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*  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  J 

*  Princeton,  N.  J. 

BX  8721  .N6 

Noble,   Samuel,  1779-1853. 
Important  doctrines  of  the 
true  Christian  religion 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


http.s  ://arch  ive.org/detai  Is/i  m  portantdoctri  nOOnobl 


IMPORTANT  DOCTRINES 

OF  THE 

TRUE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION, 

EXPLAINED,  DEMONSTRATED, 

AND 

VINDICATED  FROM  VULGAR  ERRORS. 


The  Lord's  Second  Advent: 

The  Divine  Character,  Unity,  Tri- 
nity, and  Person  : 

The  Assumption  of  Humanity  and 
Putting  forth,  thereby,  of  the 
Power  of  Redemption: 


The    Sacrifice  of  Jesus   Christ,  and 

Salvation  by  his  Blood  : 
His  Mediation  and  Atonement  : 
The  Justification  of  a  Sinner: 
Harmony    with   the    Doctrine   of  a. 

Plurality  of  Worlds. 


SERIES  OF  LECTURES, 

DELIVERED  AT  THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  CHURCH,  IN  CROSS  STREET,  HATTON 
GARDEN,  LONDON. 

By  the  Rev.  S.  NOBLE, 

Author  of  "The  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  Asserted,"  &c.  ; 
"  An  Appeal  in  behalf  of  the  Views  and  Doctrines  of  the 
New  Church  believed  to  be  signified  by  the 
New  Jerusalem  ;"  and  other  Works. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION, 
BY  GEORGE  BUSH. 


NEW-YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  ALLEN,  No.  139  NASSAU-STREET. 

BOSTON:  OTIS  CLAPP,  12  SCHOOL-STR  EET. 
CINCINNATI  :  J.  F.  DESILVER. 

1848. 


INTRODUCTIO  N 

TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


It  is  usually  a  matter  of  no  small  surprise  to  those  who  are  not 
deterred  by  the  force  of  prejudice  from  a  candid  examination  of 
the  works  of  Swedenborg,  to  find  in  them,  not  merely  a  mass  of 
alleged  disclosures  of  the  various  phenomena  of  the  other  life, 
but  a  clear,  consistent,  and  well  argued  system  of  religious  doc- 
trines. To  one  who  has  hitherto  been  led  to  regard  him  simply 
in  the  character  which  the  christian  world  seems  to  have  agreed 
to  ascribe  to  him, — that  of  an  amiable  but  deluded  visionary, 
who  dealt  solely  in  the  vagaries  of  a  disordered  imagination, — it 
opens  a  world  of  fresh  wonder  to  perceive,  as  he  advances  in  his 
inquiry,  that  a  new  and  most  impressive  view  of  the  grand 
doctrines  of  Christianity  is  continually  unfolding  before  him,  one 
that  appeals  with  such  power  and  demonstration  to  his  calmest 
reason,  that  before  he  is  aware  he  finds  himself  questioning,  not 
the  sanity  of  Swedenborg,  but  the  sanity  of  those  who  have 
gravely  impeached  his.  He  is  at  a  loss  to  conceive  of  any 
standard  of  soundness  and  sobriety  of  mind  tried  by  which  the 
Swedish  sage  shall  be  found  wanting.  That  his  enunciations 
are  often  new,  strange,  and  startling,  he  is  indeed  forced  to  admit, 
but  the  more  they  are  pondered,  the  more  clearly  does  he  perceive 
their  verisimilitude,  their  logical  legitimacy,  and  the  superiority 
of  their  claims  to  belief  over  the  positions  of  the  prevailing  the- 
ology which  array  themselves  against  them.  It  is  mainly  per- 
haps in  this  antithetic  survey  of  the  old  and  the  new  dogmas  that 
he  becomes  aware  of  the  higher  claims  of  the  latter  on  the  score 
of  their  congruity  with  reason  and  revelation.  The  first  dawn 
of  conviction  that  steals  upon  his  mind,  assuring  him  that  he  has 
at  length  met  with  a  theology  which  is  at  the  same  time  a  phi- 
losophy, and  that  he  is  proffered  a  faith  which  does  not  require 
him  to  forego  in  any  respect  the  decisions  of  his  intellect,  which 


IV 


INTRODUCTION. 


harmonizes  with  the  results  of  science  and  re-echoes  the  voice 
of  his  moral  intuitions,  ushers  in  a  new  era  to  his  experience  and 
makes  his  bosom  the  seat  of  a  delight  to  which  he  had  been  be- 
fore a  stranger. 

Pre-eminent  among  the  discoveries  which  he  makes  in  this 
new  field  of  dogmatic  revelation  is  that  of  a  doctrine  of  the  Divine 
nature,  and  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  which  he  perceives  at  once  to  dis- 
sipate the  fallacies  of  the  received  tenet  on  this  head,  and  render 
that  luminous  and  consistent,  which  was  before  dark  and  per- 
plexing. The  trifold  distinction  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit, 
is  seen  to  stand  forth  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  essential  Unity 
of  the  Godhead,  and  this  distinction  is  recognised  as  existing  in 
the  one  undivided  person  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 
He  is  clearly  shown  to  be  the  veritable  Jehovah  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  true  object  of  worship  in  the  ancient  and  most 
ancient  churches,  and  who  comprises  within  Himself  the  three 
grand  principles  of  Love,  Wisdom,  and  Operation, constituting 
the  only  basis  of  the  Scriptural  Trinity.  On  this  view  of  the 
Divine  nature,  we  can  see  how  the  Lord's  advent  in  the  flesh  was 
a  real  incarnation  of  the  Deity,  while  on  every  other  we  perceive 
nothing  higherthan  the  bare  adjunction  of  the  Divineto  the  Human 
in  the  person  of  our  Lord,  and  are  utterly  at  fault  in  the  attempt  to 
assign  a  reason  why  he  might  not  have  been  the  son  of  Joseph 
as  well  as  of  Mary.  If,  as  ordinarily  taught,  His  soul,  or  inmost 
essence,  were  derived  from  the  virgin  mother,  and.  his  Divinity 
be  due  to  the  conjunction  of  the  Godhead  with  this  human 
soul,  what  necessity  for  a  departure  from  the  established  laws  of 
generation  in  the  mode  of  his  ushering  into  the  world?  Could 
not  this  conjunction  have  been  as  well  effected  without  the  mi- 
raculous conception  as  with  it  ?  The  truth  is,  this  great  fact  is 
ignored  and  vacated  in  the  prevalent  doctrine  of  our  Lord's  Di- 
vinity. It  is  only  in  the  system  of  Swedenborg  that  it  is  seen  to 
rise  to  its  due  magnitude  and  moment.  Christ  had  no  human 
father  because  the  Divine  Ewe  was  his  father,  which  is  but  another 
form  of  saying  that  in  him  Jehovah  became  incarnate,  or  the  Di- 
vine Love,  the  Father,  was  inwardly  latent  in  the  manifested  and 
impersonated  Divine  Truth,  the  Son.  On  no  other  ground  can 
the  doctrine  of  a  real  incarnation  be  maintained.    Abandon  this, 


INTRODUCTION. 


V 


and  we  sink  at  once  to  the  level  of  a  sheer  Humanitarianism, 
which  denies  the  very  central  truth  of  Christianity.  If  Jesus 
Christ  be  not  the  supreme  and  absolute  Jehovah,  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  personal  distinctions,  the  Gospel  is  a  fable. 

The  establishment  of  this  truth  is  seen  at  once  to  put  a  new  pha- 
sison  the  entire  scheme  of  doctrine  pertaining  to  man's  salvation 
The  dogma  of  vicarious  atonement  inevitably  resolves  itself  into 
a  theological  fiction,  for  that  tenet  derives  its  very  being  from 
the  assumption  of  three  persons  in  the  Godhead,  the  second  of 
whom,  by  an  expiatory  sacrifice  of  Himself,  makes  a  satisfaction 
to  the  vindicatory  justice  of  the  first,  and  that  in  reality,  not  in 
behalf  of  the  whole  world,  but  of  a  certain  definite  portion  of  the 
human  race  ascertained  by  an  eternal  decree  of  election.  All 
this  plausive  and  well-compacted  theory  falls  prostrate  to  the 
ground  as  soon  as  it  is  perceived,  as  it  soon  will  be  by  the  student 
of  Swedenborg,  that  God  does  not  exist  in  three  persons,  but  in 
one,  and  that  an  atonement  made  by  one  Divine  person  to  Him- 
self is  a  glaring  absurdity.  The  foundation  swept  away,  the 
superstructure  topples  down.  To  the  clarified  vision  of  the  man 
of  the  New  Church  the  entire  fabric  of  the  doctrinals  of  the  old 
system  passes  over  the  stage  as  a  solemn  phantasmagoria,  a 
spectral  array  of  synodical  and  sacerdotal  sanctities,  which  flit 
and  disappear  forever,  as  embodying  any  substantial  truth. 

As  the  doctrinal  system  of  Swedenborg  does  away  with  the 
popular  view  of  the  atonement,  while  still  affirming  the  indispensa- 
ble necessity  of  the  incarnation,  so  it  puts  also  a  new  complexion 
upon  the  Lord's  office  of  Mediator.  It  knows  no  more  of  his  in- 
terceding with  Himself  than  it  does  of  his  atoning  to  Himself. 
The  views  entertained  on  both  these  departments  of  his  work, 
are  necessarily  governed  by  the  paramount  fact  of  the  Divine 
Unity.  This  ruling  truth  of  the  New  Church  determines  the 
sense  of  every  declaration  pertaining  to  the  economy  of  redemp- 
tion. As  it  is  the  one  indivisible  Jehovah,  or  the  Word  made 
flesh,  who  is  presented  to  our  view  under  the  title  of  Christ  or 
Lord,  so  every  character,  prerogative,  and  function  ascribed  to 
Him,  must  consist  with  that  absolute  oneness  of  person  which  con- 
stitutes the  corner-stone  and  foundation  of  every  doctrine  of  the 
New  Jerusalem.  Mediation  and  intercession,  therefore,  as  predica- 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


ted  of  our  Lord,  in  order  to  conform  to  the  essential  verity,  must 
come  before  the  mind  divested  of  all  idea  of  duality  of  person. 
The  conception  of  one  Divine  Person,  moved  by  infinite  clemency, 
and  pleading  in  behalf  of  sinful  men  with  another  Divine  person 
who  is  prompted,  but  for  such  intervention,  to  inexorable  wrath,  is 
utterly  alien  to  the  system  we  are  now  considering.  It  knows 
no  such  conflict  within  the  precincts  of  the  bosom  of  bound- 
less Love.  The  mediation  of  Jesus  lies  wholly  in  the  fact  of  his 
being  made  a  medium  of  the  divine  mercy  and  grace  to  men. 
The  mediatorial  pleadings  are  pleadings  with  men  and  not  with 
God.  It  is  man  who  requires  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  and 
not  God  to  man. 

The  true  teaching,  not  of  Swedenborg  simply,  but  of  the 
Scriptures  themselves,  on  this  head  will  be  found  developed 
with  extraordinary  clearness  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
Lectures  of  the  present  volume,  which  we  regard  as  a  master- 
piece of  lucid  and  convincing  exposition. 

With  the  current  doctrines  of  the  Trinity,  Atonement,  Impu- 
tation, &c,  stands  most  intimately  connected  that  of  Justifica- 
tion by  Faith  alone.  And  here  again  we  are  met  in  Sweden- 
borg by  a  view  of  this  subject  completely  at  antipodes  with  the 
teaching  of  the  Symbols.  Instead  of  regarding  Faith  as  the  fun- 
damental grace  of  the  Christian  soul,  we  are  taught  to  recognise 
Charity  as  entitled  to  that  distinction,  and  as  Charity  is  but  an- 
other name  for  Love,  and  Love  for  Life,  we  are  furnished,  in  fact, 
with  a  psychological  ground,  for  placing  the  essence  of  all  true  re- 
ligion in  the  will-principle  or  the  affection,  instead  of  placing  it 
in  the  intellect  or  faith-principle.  As  the  very  element  of  hea- 
venly bliss  consists  in  a  form  of  character  determined  by  the 
ruling  love,  and  as  this  character  must  be  inwrought  and  not 
merely  imputed,  we  learn  that  a  man,  in  order  to  be  saved,  must 
be  good,  and  not  merely  accounted  good,  as  his  salvation  and  his 
character  are  one  and  the  same  thing.  "We  are  well  aware,  in- 
deed, that  it  will  be  asserted  that  the  same  doctrine  is  taught  in 
the  orthodox  standards,  but  we  know,  at  the  same  time,  that  those 
standards  and  all  the  didactic  theology  framed  according  to 
them,  make  love  the  product  of  faith,  instead  of  the  reverse,  and 
that  the  justifying  efficacy  of  faith  flows  not  from  the  essential  love, 


INTRODUCTION. 


VII 


but  from  the  appropriating  confidence,  involved  in  it.  This,  how- 
ever, is,  according  to  Swedenborg,  a  complete  inversion  of  the  true 
order  of  these  principles,  and  his  position  cannot  be  gainsaid 
but  by  a  refutation  of  his  grand  averment  in  regard  to  Love  as 
the  very  esse  of  all  intelligent  being,  and  to  Thought  as  its  existere, 
or  manifested  form.  While  therefore,  on  his  system  all  merit  is 
entirely  precluded  on  the  part  of  man,  yet  it  is  maintained  that 
works,  considered  as  an  exponent  of  the  ruling  love,  and  a  syno- 
nym for  life,  are  the  ground  of  justification  in  this  world,  and  the 
criterion  of  judgment  in  the  next. 

These  and  their  various  related  themes  constitute  the  subject 
matter  of  the  present  volume,  and  nowhere  else,  to  our  know- 
ledge, are  they  treated  with  more  signal  ability  or  more  exem- 
plary fairness.  The  venerable  author  has  been  long  known  as 
a  distinguished  advocate  and  expounder  of  the  great  truths  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  that  last  dispensation  destined  to  bless  the 
earth  after  the  errors  and  commotions  of  the  by-gone  ages. 
His  work  entitled,  "an  Appeal  in  behalf  of  the  views  of  the  Eter- 
nal World,  and  State,  and  the  Doctrines  of  Faith  and  Life,  held 
by  the  body  of  Christians  who  believe  that  a  New  Church  is 
signified  by  the  New  Jerusalem  (in  Revelations,  ch.  xxi.),"  has 
ever  been  regarded,  by  the  members  of  that  Church,  as  the  most 
powerful  plea  which  has  been  put  forth  in  illustration  and  de- 
fence of  its  peculiar  tenets.  While  no  answer  has  ever  been  at- 
tempted to  its  arguments,  thousands  have  been  enabled  to  bear 
witness  to  the  aid  it  has  afforded  them  in  the  solution  of  the 
doubts  and  difficulties  which  the  novitiate  reader  so  frequently 
meets  with  in  the  outset  of  his  inquiries.  In  the  present  work, 
devoted  more  especially  to  the  consideration  of  the  theological 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church,  we  meet  with  the  marks  of  the 
same  candid  spirit,  the  same  luminous  train  of  discussion,  the 
same  deference  to  the  authority  of  the  Divine  Word,  which  shine 
so  conspicuously  in  its  predecessor.  The  reader  encounters  no 
harsh  denunciation  of  the  errors  of  former  systems,  no  disparage- 
ment of  the  force  of  counter  arguments,  no  adroit  evasion  of  the 
true  point  in  debate,  but  every  thing  is  fair,  manly,  and  direct, 
and  the  appeal  to  revelation,  in  its  unforced  teachings,  as  confi- 
dent as  it  is  constant.    Distinguished  by  a  peculiar  felicity  in 


VIII 


INTRODUCTION. 


developing  all  the  salient  points  of  the  system  which  he  unfolds, 
and  master  of  all  the  learning  requisite  to  a  clear  confirmation  of 
its  verities,  the  author  is  no  less  happy  in  the  indication  of  the 
meek  and  placid  spirit  which  beautifies  truth,  and  which  makes 
the  cause  attractive  that  his  reasoning  makes  strong. 

We  rejoice  that  the  New  Church  has  been  honoured  by  the 
production  of  such  a  work.  We  rejoice  that  by  the  liberality  of 
an  individual  deeply  impressed  with  the  value  of  the  truth  it  in- 
culcates, it  has  been  made  accessible  to  the  American  public  at 
an  earlier  date  and  on  a  wider  scale,  than  could  have  been  anti- 
cipated under  other  circumstances.  It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped 
that  the  same  impulse  which  has  led  to  its  publication  may 
prompt  also  to  its  diffusion.  It  can  be  of  use  only  so  far  as  it  is 
read,  and  we  have  but  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  on  the  part 
of  multitudes  who  would  be  benefitted  beyond  measure  by  the 
perusal,  the  call  for  the  work  will  not  be  spontaneous.  It  must 
be  freely  furnished  them  ;  it  must  be  put  in  their  way;  it  must 
be  commended  to  their  attention  ;  and  in  order  to  this  the 
friends  of  the  New  Church  must  be  willing,  even  at  some  little 
apparent  sacrifice  for  the  present,  to  possess  themselves,  in  the 
volume  now  published,  of  the  means  of  rendering  an  invaluable 
service  to  their  neighbor.  Indeed,  we  are  persuaded  that  the 
members  of  the  New  Church  are  called  to  higher  measures 
of  liberality  on  this  score,  founded  on  a  large  and  believing  trust 
in  the  Divine  Providence,  than  they  have  as  yet  evinced.  Nor 
do  we  doubt  that  they  will  respond  to  this  call  whenever  they 
shall  give  full  force  to  the  assurance,  that,  however  precious  these 
heavenly  doctrines  are  to  themselves,  they  will  be  equally  so  to 
thousands  of  others  when,  by  their  agency,  they  shall  have  been 
made  acquainted  with  them. 


G.  B. 


PREFACE 


TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION. 


The  following  work  sufficiently  explains  itself;  and  as  the  first 
Lecture,  with  the  commencing  portions  of  several  of  the  others, 
is  of  a  Prefatory  character,  all  that  seems  requisite  by  way  of 
Preface,  here,  is  to  give  some  account  of  its  origin  and  composi- 
tion, with  the  cause  of  its  publication.  This  may  at  the  same 
time  serve  as  an  apology  for  some  of  the  defects  of  which  the 
Author  is  conscious. 

In  the  course  of  the  twenty-eight  years  during  which  the 
Author  has  laboured  in  the  Ministerial  Office,  and  has  en- 
deavoured to  recommend  to  his  fellow-men  the  Views  of 
Divine  truth  which  are  presented  in  this  Volume,  he  has  de- 
livered numerous  Lectures,  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom, 
both  single  and  in  series,  for  the  promotion  of  that  object. 
Among  them  was  a  Course — twenty-six  in  number, — delivered 
at  and  after  the  opening  of  the  Church  in  Cross  street,  chiefly 
in  the  first  half  of  the  year  1828.  These  at  the  time,  the 
Author  was  much  solicited  to  commit  to  the  press ;  but  he  de- 
clined to  do  so,  partly  because  he  thought  there  was  no  lack  of 
doctrinal  Lectures  embracing  similar  subjects,  then  recently  pub- 
fished,  by  other  labourers  in  the  same  field  ;  and  partly  because 
two  works  of  some  magnitude,  in  advocacy  and  defence  of  the 
same  system  of  Scripture-interpretation  and  doctrine  as  was 
maintained  in  those  Lectures,  had  not  long  before  been  publish- 
ed by  himself.  But  when,  fifteen  years  afterwards, — that  is 
about  three  years  ago, — an  application  was  made  to  him  from 
the  Society  long  since  formed  in  Manchester  (under  the  auspices 


s 


PREFACE. 


of  the  late  Rev.  J.  Clowes,  Rector  of  St.  John's  in  that  town) 
for  the  publication  of  the  Writings  of  the  Hon.  Emanuel  Sweden- 
borg  and  of  other  works  in  agreement  with  the  same, — the  pur- 
port of  which  application  was,  that  he  would  allow  them  to 
print  a  volume  of  the  Lectures  which  he  was  known  to  have 
in  manuscript,  to  extend  to  about  500  pages, — he  deemed  that 
time  had  removed  all  reasons  to  the  contrary.  A  second  edi- 
tion of  his  Appeal,  &c,  had,  indeed,  been  printed  in  the  year 
183S,  into  which  he  had  incorporated  some  of  the  Lectures  of 
the  year  1S28.  But  by  omitting  these,  with  all  the  Lectures 
of  that  Series  which  treated  of  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life 
after  Death, — a  subject  which  is  so  largely  discussed  in  the 
Appeal — he  thought  that  in. the  fifteen  which  remained,  with 
such  others  as  it  might  be  necessary  to  introduce  to  bring 
the  Work  to  the  requisite  completeness  and  the  contemplated 
extent,  the  subjects,  though  including  some  of  those  which  are 
considered  in  the  Appeal,  would  be  found  to  be  treated  so  diffe- 
rently, as  not  to  be  felt  as  tedious  in  the  perusal,  even  by 
those  who  have  read  that  work  ;  whilst  any  further  satisfaction 
which  might  be  desired  respecting  those  subjects  might  there  be 
obtained. 

The  object  of  the  Author,  in  this  Volume,  has  been,  to 
present,  in  a  popular  form,  something  like  a  Sketch  of  a 
small  Body  of  True  Christian  Divinity  ;  but  as  he  could  not 
introduce  all  the  subjects  which  ought  to  appear  in  such  a 
work,  and  was  compelled  to  exclude  the  great  one  of  the 
Resurrection,  &c,  he  has  only  designated  it,  Important  Doc- 
trines of  the  True  Christian  Religion.  He  has,  however,  en- 
deavoured so  to  arrange  the  various  subjects,  as  that  the  Work 
should  form  a  coherent  whole,  and  present  a  regular  thread  of 
discussion  from  beginning  to  end.  But  being  formed  of  parts 
not  all  composed  at  the  same  time,  nor  originally  designed  to 


PREFACE. 


range  together,  differences  of  style,  and  in  the  manner  of 
treating  the  subjects,  will  be  easily  detected.  There  is,  how- 
ever, not  a  sentence  in  the  book,  whether  here  printed  for  the 
first  time  or  not  [and  of  the  latter,  beside  the  last  Lecture, 
this  is  very  litte  indeed],  which  does  not  owe  its  birth  to  the 
same  pen  as  the  rest,  with  the  exception  of  some  portions  of 
Lecture  XXVI.,  as  explained  in  the  proper  place. 

From  the  same  cause — of  the  component  parts  of  the  work 
having  been  written  at  different  times,  and  the  whole  being 
printed  from  the  original  manuscripts, — there  is  a  want  of 
uniformity  in  the  use  of  capital  letters,  and  in  some  other 
little  technicalities.  In  the  former  part  of  the  Work,  also 
the  references  to  the  passages  cited  from  Scripture  are  fre- 
quently, by  oversight,  omitted. 

The  fifteen  Lectures  of  the  Series  of  1828,  which  are  the 
foundation  of  the  Work,  are  numbered  in  it  as  follows : 
Lectures  I.,  II.,  III.,  V.,  VII.,  VIII.,  IX.,  XL,  XII.,  XIV., 
XVI.,  XXI.  [first  eight  pages],  and  XXII.  [six  or  seven  pages 
in  the  middle],  XXIII.,  XXVI.,  and  XXVII.  The  others 
were  composed  at  different  periods  between  the  year  1822  and 
the  present  time.  The  chief  part  of  the  Lecture  on  Mediation 
in  the  Series  of  1828,  had  been  introduced  into  the  second 
edition  of  the  Appeal.  But  this  was  a  subject  which  could  not 
be  omitted  in  the  present  Series ;  yet  there  was  some  difficulty 
in  supplying  it,  without  its  wearing  too  great  a  resemblance 
to  the  original  Lecture,  now  forming  Part  3  of  Section  viii. 
in  that  work.  This  inconvenience  was  the  cause  that  Lec- 
ture XVII.,  in  this  Volume,  is  rather  a  disjointed  per- 
formance. The  Author  used  the  original  introduction,  wrote 
some  original  observations  on  the  common  doctrine,  then 
stated  the  true  doctrine  [partly  in  quotations  from  Lecture 
X.,]  and  added  some  illustrations  from  Sermons  composed  it 


PREFACE. 


1837.  But  when  he  had  thus  completed  the  Lecture,  he  was 
by  no  means  satisfied  ;  and  his  mind  having  now  become 
active  upon  the  subject,  and  feeling  its  great  importance,  he 
composed  the  entirely  new  Lectures,  XVIIL,  XIX.,  and  XX. 

But  although  the  widely  distant  intervals  at  which  some 
portions  of  the  volume  were  written  must  have  occasioned 
varieties  of  style  and  manner,  the  Author  hopes  that  no 
dislocation  will  be  observable  in  the  order  of  the  various 
subjects ;  and  he  has  been  careful  to  insert  connecting 
clauses  and  references,  where  required,  to  render  the  whole 
one  continuous  work.  But  he  fears  he  shall  have  justly 
incurred  more  critical  censure,  for  having  retained  so  much 
of  the  prefatory  and  apologetical  matter  with  which  most  of 
the  Lectures  of  the  year  1828  were  introduced.  They  were 
delivered  before  numerous  auditories,  to  most  of  the  indi- 
viduals composing  which  everything  presented  was  entirely 
new:  consequently,  it  was  necessary  to  commence  with  such 
exordiums  as  might  tend  to  allay  prejudice  and  conciliate  a 
favourable  attention.  As,  also,  they  were  delivered  at  weekly 
intervals,  and  persons  were  always  present  who  had  not 
attended  previously,  it  was  necessary  to  recite,  from  time  to 
time,  the  substance  of  what  had  gone  before,  and  which  was 
the  basis  of  what  was  to  follow.  These  apologetical  and 
recapitulatory  introductions,  therefore,  might  be  very  ne- 
cessary to  the  Lectures  as  delivered;  but  on  perusing  them 
in  rapid  succession,  since  the  sheets  have  been  all  worked  off, 
to  ascertain  what  Errata  might  have  escaped  attention  in 
the  proofs,  the  Author  could  not  but  feel  that,  thus  read, 
the  effect  of  the  repetitions  was  unpleasant.  He  has  there- 
fore added,  to  the  Errata,  a  direction  for  some  omissions  as 
Corrigenda :  to  which  the  reader  may  add  as  many  more  as  his 
taste  suggests. 


PREFACE. 


XIII 


With  these  explanations,  and  acknowledged  consciousness  of 
faults,  the  Work  is  submitted  to  the  favourers  of  the  views  of 
Divine  Truth  which  it  advocates,  and  to  the  candid  attention  of 
the  public  at  large.  All  that  the  Author  wishes  from  its  publi- 
cation is,  that  it  may  be  made  conducive,  by  the  good  provi- 
dence of  the  Lord,  to  the  extension  of  genuine  Christian  faith 
and  practice  :  and  should  it  be  blessed  to  the  building  up  of 
only  a  few  in  the  vital  principles  of  the  True  Christian  Religion, 
he  shall  consider  that  his  prayers  have  been  answered,  and  that 
he  has  obtained  the  best  of  rewards. 

Kentish  Town,  June  19,  1846. 


CONTENTS. 


IXCT.  PAGE 

I.  Introductory. — The  Duty  of  Proclaiming,  and  the  Blessedness  of  Re- 

ceiving, the  Doctrines  of  the  New  Church,  signified  by  the  New 
Jerusalem  in  the  Revelation  :  especially  those  relating  to  the  Person 
of  the  Lord  and  his  Second  Advent  1 

II.  The  Necessity  of  Religion,  as  consisting  in  the  Knowledge,  Love,  a"nd 

Worship  of  the  Lord,  for  maintaining  the  Connexion  between  Man 
and  his  Maker  18 

III.  The  Essential  Nature  of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship,  who  is  Love 

itself  and  Wisdom  itself,  or  Goodness  itself  and  Truth  itself:  and 
the  Necessity  of  the  reception  of  those  holy  Principles  by  Man,  in 
order  to  his  Salvation  32 

IV.  Divine  Love  the  Moving  Cause  of  Creation  50 

V.  The  Absolute  Unity,  both  in  Essence  and  Person,  of  the  Divine  Object 
of  Worship  ;  and  the  Scripture  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as  being  in 
perfect  Harmony  with  such  Absolute  Unity  64 

VI.    The  proper  Personality,  and  the  Divine  Form,  of  the  Lord  our  God  .  83 

VII.  That  the  Divine  Name,  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  Name  of  Jehovah  in  his 
Humanity  :  and  that  this  is  the  One  God,  in  whose  Divine  Person 
the  whole  Trinity  centres  98 

VIII.    The  Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Divine  Nature  of 

his  Resurrection-Body  113 

IX.  The  Reasonableness,  together  with  the  Scripture-Evidence,  of  the  Great 

Truth,  that  it  was  the  One  God  Himself,  and  not  any  Son  of  God 
born  from  Eternity,  that  descended  from  Heaven,  for  the  Purpose 
of  Redeeming  and  Saving  Mankind  130 

X.  The  Reasonableness,  as  well  as  Scripture-Evidence,  of  the  Important 

Truth,  that  the  Assumption  of  Humanity  into  God,  instead  of  limit- 
ing the  Divine  Infinity  and  Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of 
their  more  full  Manifestation  and  Exercise  146 

XII.  Scripture  Evidence  of  the  Important  Truth,  that  the  Assumption  of 
Humanity  into  God,  instead  of  limiting  the  Divine  Infinity  and 
Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  their  more  full  Manifestation 
and  Exercise  165 

XII.  The  true  Nature  of  Redemption,  as  consisting  in  the  Removal  from 
Man  of  the  Preponderating  Power  of  Hell,  and  his  Restoration  to 
Spiritual  Freedom  179 

XIII.  The  true  Nature  of  Redemption,  as  consisting  in  the  Removal  from 
Man  of  the  Preponderating  Power  of  Hell,  and  his  Restoration  to 
Spiritual  Freedom,  further  considered     .      '."     .       .  .  192 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


Z.ECT.  PAGI. 

XIV.  The  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ ;  in  what  it  consisted  ;  and  how  it  is 
compatible  with  his  Oneness  with  the  Godhead,  and  with  the  Attri- 
butes of  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom  as  forming  the  Essential  Nature 
of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship  207 

XV.  Further  Particulars  relating  to  the  Levitical  Sacrifices,  evincing  that 

they  did  not  represent  the  Sacrifice  of  .lesus  Christ  as  this  is  com- 
monly understood,  but  that  they  did  represent  it  according  to  its  True 
Nature  ;  which  they  greatly  illustrate  224 

XVI.  Salvation  by  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ:  how  it  is  effected  ;  and  how  it 

is  consistent  with  his  Oneness  with  the  Godhead,  and  with  the 
Attributes  of  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom  as  formiug  the  Essential 
Nature  of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship  245 

XVII.  'The  Meditation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ:  in  what  those  offices 

consist ;  and  how  they  are  in  Agreement  with  his  Supreme  Divinity, 
and  with  the  absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Person  and  Essence      .  261 

XVIII.  The  Meditation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ:  in  what  those 

Offices  consist ;  and  how  they  are  in  Agreement  with  his  Supreme 
Divinity,  and  with  the  absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Person  and 
Essence.    And  Scripture  Statements  explained     ....  280 

XIX.    The  Advocateship  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit         .       .  305 

XX.    Additional  Scripture  Proofs  of  the  True  Doctrine  of  the  Mediation, 

Intercession,  and  Advocateship,  of  Jesus  Christ    ....  328* 

XXI.  The  Atonement:  what  is  its  Real  Nature;  and  how  it  ii  in  perfect 
Harmony  with  the  Divine  Attributes  of  Asolute  Unity  and  Im- 
mutable Love,  and  with  the  Concentration  of  the  Whole  Trinity  in 
the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ  342 

XXII.  The  Atonement  considered  affirmatively:  what  is  its  Real  Nature; and 

how  it  is  in  perfect  Harmony  with  the  Divine  Attributes  of  Absolute 
Unity  and  Immutable  Love,  and  with  the  Concentration  of  the 
whole  Trinity  in  the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ         ....  361 

XXIII.  How  Man  is  to  profit  by  the  Divine  Mercies  displayed  towards  him  in 

the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Offer  of  Salvation  by  his  Blood, 
his  Mediation,  and  his  Atonement  383 

XXIV.  Charity  and  not  Faith,  the  first  Essential  of  pure  Christianity  .       .  400 

XXV.    Action  from  Love  superior  to  its  indispensable  Precursor,  Action  from 

the  Obedience  of  Faith  415 

XXVI.  The  Justification  of  a  Sinner  before  God  424 

XXVII.  The  Astronomical  Doctrine  of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds  irreconcilable 

with  the  Popular  Systems  of  Theology,  but  in  perfect  Harmony 
with  the  True  Christian  Religion  444 


LECTURE  I. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

THE  DUTY  OF  PROCLAIMING,  AND  THE  BLESSEDNESS  OF  RECEIV- 
ING, THE  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH  SIGNIFIED  BY  THE 
NEW  JERUSALEM  IN  THE  REVELATION  ',  ESPECIALLY  THOSE  RE- 
LATING TO  THE  PERSON  OF  THE  LORD  AND  HIS  SECOND  ADVENT. 

Being  the  Substance  of  two  Discourses,  delivered,  respectively,  at 
the  Opening  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church  in  Cross-street,  Hat- 
ton  Garden,  London,  December  30th,  1827,  and  of  the  New  Je- 
rusalem Church  in  Summer  Lane,  Birmingham,  March  28th, 
1830. 


Rev.  xxi.  3. 

"  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying,  Behold,  the  ta- 
bernacle of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them  ;  and 
they  shall  be  his  people ;  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them, 
and  be  their  God." 

You  have  witnessed  this  day,  my  friends  and  brethren,  a  solem- 
nity, which  probably  differs  essentially  from  anything  that  many 
of  you  have  ever  witnessed  before.  It  is,  indeed,  nothing  unusual 
for  persons  holding  religious  sentiments  of  any  kind  whatever,  to 
provide  buildings  for  united  worship.  It  is  not  unusual,  either, 
among  Christians,  and  all  who  use  particular  edifices  for  their 
religious  celebrations,  to  consecrate  them  to  that  object  by  some 
especial  kind  of  sacred  service.  That  we  then,  who  call  ourselves 
Christians  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  should,  by  the  same  kind  of 
service,  solemnly  set  apart  this  building  to  the  worship  of  the 
Lord,  cannot,  by  itself,  be  regarded  as  very  extraordinary.  But 
1 


2 


LECTURE  I. 


that  we  should  dedicate  it  solely  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the 
Only  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  thus  the  Only  Being  in  the 
universe  who  is  entitled  to  the  honours  of  worship  ;  and  further, 
that  we  should  declare,  in  the  Address  at  the  opening  of  the  ser- 
vice, that  we  believe  that  he  is  fulfilling  the  prophecies  of  his  own 
mouth  and  word  by  making  his  second  advent :  these  are  things 
which  may  probably  have  appeared  to  some  ofyou  alittle  surprising. 

But  do  not  start  at  these  opinions,  nor  regard  us,  merely  for 
holding  them,  as  the  victims  either  of  credulity  or  of  enthusiasm. 
We  conceive  that  we  have  reasons  for  our  belief  on  these  points, 
— sound,  scriptural  reasons, — which  nogainsayers  can  overturn, 
and  the  validity  of  which  must  be  allowed  by  pure  reason  itself. 
Indeed,  why  should  any  one  start  with  wonder  at  either  of  these 
assertions  ?  Permit  me,  with  all  deference,  to  ask,  How  can  any 
one  who  believes  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  be  really  God,  be  sur- 
prised at  hearing  it  declared,  that  He  is  the  Only  God  of  heaven 
and  earth  ?  Does  not  the  creed  of  all  Christian  Churches  affirm, 
in  the  strongest  terms,  the  unity  of  God  ?  Is  not  the  language 
of  Divine  Inspiration,  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  Sacred 
Record,  "  Ye  shall  not  have  other  gods  before  me  ?" — "  I  am 
God,  and  there  is  none  else?"  Does  not  reason  start,  not 
merely  with  surprise,  but  with  horror,  at  the  idea  of  there  being 
more  gods  than  one  ?  Does  not  every  Christian  steadily  affirm 
that  there  is  one  God  and  no  more,  and  profess  that,  in  making 
the  assertion,  the  sentiments  of  his  heart  fully  accord  with  the 
declaration  of  his  lips  ?  Then,  if  Jesus  Christ  possess  the  attri- 
bute of  Divinity,  there  is  no  God  but  he  :  If  he  is  God  at  all, 
he  is  the  Only  God  :  and  whosoever,  believing  his  Divinity,  starts 
at  this  statement,  confesses,  by  his  surprise,  that  his  thought 
contradicts  his  words,  and  that  in  his  heart  he  believes  in  more 
Gods  than  one.  It  were  well  if  you,  and  all  professing  Chris- 
tians, would  examine  yourselves  by  this  test.  If  you  feel  any 
repugnance  in  your  hearts  on  hearing  it  asserted  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Only  God,  you  may  justly  suspect  there  is  some- 
thing wrong  in  your  previously  formed  opinions  :  consider,  then, 
how  serious  a  concern  it  must  be,  to  hold  a  contradictory  creed 
on  the  very  first  principle  of  religious  faith  and  doctrine !  And 
is  it  possible  that  any  Christians  should  be  afraid  to  trust  their 


INTRODUCTORY-. 


3 


salvation  to  Jesus  Christ  alone  *?  Is  he  less  qualified  to  be  a 
Saviour  for  being  truly,  as  he  declares  in  the  Revelation  that  he 
is,  "  the  Almighty  ?"  Is  there  any  Saviour  beside  him  ?  Is  it 
not  He  then  who  says,  in  Isaiah,  "  Look  unto  mc,  and  be  ye  saved, 
all  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else  ?" 

It  is  not,  however,  my  intention  to  enter  into  the  proof  of  this 
grand  doctrine  now  :  it  will  form  the  subject  of  some  of  our  sub- 
sequent Lectures.  But  in  the  first  sermon  preached  in  this 
place*  as  now  restored  to  its  original  destination,  and  on  occa- 
sion of  its  dedication,  anew,  to  the  worship  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  only  God  of  heaven  and  earth ;  also,  as  introduc- 
tory to  the  Lectures  which  are  to  follow ;  I  could  not  but  men- 
tion this  cardinal  truth  of  all  pure  doctrine,  and  speak  a  word  of 
that  testimony  of  Jesus  which  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy. 

Before,  however,  I  quit  for  the  present,  this  momentous  sub- 
ject, let  me  warn  you  against  supposing  that  there  are  any  real 
obstacles,  either  in  reason  or  Scripture,  to  the  belief  of  the  sole 
divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Let  me  intreat  you,  at  least, 
to  suspend  your  judgment  for  the  present.  We  consider  ourselves 
fully  able  to  prove,  and  hope,  by  divine  grace  and  assistance,  to 
do  so  hereafter,  that  the  purest  reason,  the  truest  philosophy, 
instead  of  opposing  the  belief  that  it  was  the  Eternal  Jehovah 
himself  who  assumed  Humanity  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ, 
give  all  their  suffrages  in  favor  of  that  miracle  of  mercy,  when 
the  real  nature  of  it  is  understood.  It  is  only  in  consequence  of 
conceiving  utterly  false  notions  respecting  it,  that  the  pride  of 
short-sighted  man,  and  the  shallowness  of  his  reason  while  dark- 
ened by  the  fallacies  of  sense,  pronounce  it  impossible.  Only  allow 
Jehovah  to  be  Infinite  Love  and  Infinite  Power ;  and  then  ask, 
whether  there  is  any  thing  either  too  great  or  too  hard  for  Him 
to  do  for  the  salvation  of  his  immortal  creatures  :  and  allow  Him 
to  be  Infinite  Order,  likewise,  and  then,  perhaps,  you  may  admit 
it  to  be  possible,  that  the  salvation  of  man  could  not  have  been 
effected,  but  by  Jehovah's  assuming  Humanity  for  the  purpose. 

Nor  let  the  humble  disciple  of  the  Scriptures  suppose,  that 
there  is  anything  in  those  Holy  Records  inconsistent  with  the 

*  The  Church  in  Cross  Street,  London.  It  was  originally  built  by  two  individuals,  remain- 
ing their  property,  and  was  eventually  purchased  by  the  Society. 


4 


LECTURE  I. 


glorious  truths,  that  there  is  one  God,  that  there  is  none  else, 
and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  He.  Fancy  not  that,  in  holding  this 
doctrine,  we  deny  the  Trinity  :  we  do  not  deny  the  Trinity,  but 
we  establish  it,  and  we  show  that  this  great  mystery,  as  it  is  com- 
monly deemed,  requires  no  suppression  of  the  voice  of  reason  be- 
fore it  can  be  received,  and  that  it  is  men,  not  God,  who  have 
made  it  incomprehensible.  We  preserve,  and  maintain,  every 
truth  of  the  Bible  ;  every  truth  that  is  dear  to  the  heart  of  a 
Christian  :  and  we  show  that  the  pure  truths  of  Scripture,  are  the 
dictates  of  the  purest  reason  also ;  that  although  reason,  in  its 
present  feeble  state,  is  incapable  of  discovering  them,  it  recog- 
nises and  rejoices  in  them  when  presented  before  it.  In  short, 
we  boldly  affirm,  that  the  view  of  the  Scriptures,  of  religion,  and 
of  its  great  doctrines,  held  by  us,  is  the  only  system  which  is  im- 
pregnable to  the  shafts  of  Scepticism  ;  and  it  is  high  time  that  it 
should  be  more  extensively  promulgated,  known  and  received, 
to  put  a  check  to  the  progress  of  Infidelity,  which  now  rears  so 
audacious  a  front,  and  marches  with  such  desolating  strides 
through  the  realms  of  Christendom ;  demoralizing  by  its  in- 
fluence the  human  character,  debasing  the  man  into  the  brute, 
and  excluding  the  immortal  from  the  eternal  happiness  intended 
for  him  by  creation.  Christians  must  clothe  themselves  in  that 
panoply  of  Divine  Truth  which  makes  the  acknowledgment  of 
the  Lord  Jesus, Christ,  as  the  only  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  its 
helmet  of  salvation,  or  Christianity  itself  will  be  merged,  first, 
with  many,  in  Unitarianism,  and  then,  with  all,  in  Deism  and 
Atheism  :  religion  will  be  banished  from  the  earth  :  and  without 
religion,  which  binds  man,  the  recipient  of  life  to  his  Creator, 
its  Source,  the  human  race  itself  would  finally  drop  out  of  exis- 
tence. So  true  is  the  declaration  of  the  Divine  Prophet,  that 
unless  those  days, — the  days  of  evil  and  error  in  a  consummated 
church, — be  shortened,  there  should  no  flesh  be  saved — either 
spiritually  or  naturally. 

Fear  not  then,  ye  men  of  reason  !  to  put  your  trust  in  a  God 
who  assumed  and  glorified  in  himself  the  nature  of  man,  that  he 
might  dispense,  in  a  manner  more  accommodated  to  the  capaci- 
ties of  his  frail  human  offspring,  the  graces  which  purify  and  dig- 
nify the  heart,  and  which  bring  with  them  to  the  subjects  of 


INTRODUCTORY. 


5 


them  the  inestimable  gift  of  salvation  :  and  imagine  not,  ye  dis- 
ciples of  the  gospel !  that  your  Saviour  would  be  less  capable  of 
saving  you  if  he  were  the  sole  God  of  the  universe,  if  omnipotence 
itself  were  his,  if  to  him  truly  belong  all  power  in  heaven  and  in 
earth.  All  that  I  have  now  asserted,  will,  by  the  mercy  of  the 
Lord,  be  fully  proved,  in  our  future  Lectures.  And  O  !  what  is 
the  delight  and  peace  which  the  reception  of  this  view  brings  into 
the  soul !  To  be  satisfied,  on  the  one  hand,  that  religion  is  true, 
— that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  he  makes  his  creature  man  the 
object  of  his  care  ;  that  he  has  revealed  to  him  his  will,  and  pro- 
vided for  him  the  means  of  attaining  eternal  happiness  ;  and,  on 
the  other,  to  be  relieved  from  all  perplexity  as  to  the  nature  and 
person  of  this  most  blessed  God  and  Saviour,  to  have  the  revela- 
tion of  his  will  made  clear  to  us,  and  to  be  taught  by  it  explicitly 
what  the  means  of  attaining  eternal  happiness  are  : — O  what 
felicity  is  this  for  an  anxious,  trembling,  suffering,  aspiring  mor- 
tal ;  the  creature,  if  this  life  be  all,  of  an  hour ;  the  partaker,  if 
the  Word  of  God  is  to  be  believed,  of  life  without  end  ;  the  in- 
heritor, if  he  complies  with  the  will  of  his  Heavenly  Father,  of  an 
eternal  and  exceeding  weight  of  glory  ! 

But  I  observed,  also,  at  the  beginning  of  this  discourse,  that 
many  of  3-ou  would  probably  be  surprised  to  hear,  that  we  believe 
that  the  Lord  is  fulfilling  the  prophecies  of  his  own  mouth  anC. 
word  by  making  his  second  advent.  But,  as  I  asked  respecting 
both  propositions,  why  should  any  one  start  with  wonder  at  hear- 
ing this  belief?  Is  prophecy  never  to  be  accomplished  ?  Is  the 
Word  of  God,  as  to  many  of  the  prophetical  parts  of  it,  to  say 
nothing  of.  other  parts,  to  remain  a  dead  letter  for  ever  ?  If  not, 
where  is  the  absurdity  of  believing,  that  an  event  which  the 
Christian  world  has  been  expecting,  almost  from  year  to  year, 
for  these  seventeen  hundred  years  past ;  which  they  all,  without 
exception,  are  looking  for  at  no  distant  period  now ;  which  none 
of  the  expositors  of  Scripture  expect  to  be  delayed  any  very  long 
time  further  ;  which  some  of  the  most  popular  and  admired  pro-* 
claim  to  be  quite  close  at  hand — where  is  the  absurdity  of  sup- 
posing, that  an  event  which  all  agree  must  come,  should,  at  last, 
actually  have  arrived  ;  especially  when  it  fulfils,  by  the  unex- 
pected manner  of  its  arrival,  the  Lord's  own  warning.  In  such  an 


6 


LECTURE  I. 


hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of  Man  cometh  ?  "Indeed!" 
many  will  exclaim,  «  but  where  is  He  ?  The  heavenly  luminaries 
rise  and  set  as  usual ;  and  the  earth  has  not  yet  been  consumed, 
as  expected,  by  the  falling  of  the  sun  and  the  stars  to  the 
ground.  The  clouds  float  over  our  heads  as  of  old  ;  and  we  have 
not  yet  seen  appear  in  them  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  ?" 
And  is  it,  my  friends,  in  this  manner  that  we  ought  to  expect 
the  Lord  to  make  his  second  advent  ?  Is  it  to  lead  the  Jews 
back  to  Canaan  that  he  will  appear,  and  will  he  become  to  them, 
at  last,  precisely  such  a  Messiah  as  they  wished  for  at  first,  to  re- 
ward them  for  having  refused  to  accept  him  in  any  other  manner, 
and  for  having  rejected  and  crucified  him  when  he  came  in  a  man- 
ner which  they  did  not  approve  ?  Surely,  it  is  they  who  enter- 
tain such  notions  as  these  about  the  Lord's  second  coming  that 
are  the  enthusiasts.  To  believe  that  he  ever  will  come,  or  that 
he  ever  intended  to  come,  or  meant  to  promise  to  come,  in  such 
a  manner  as  this,  argues  a  copious  share  of  credulity  indeed,  and 
an  equal  lack  of  just  conception  respecting  the  nature  of  his 
divine  person  and  government :  but  to  believe  that  he  comes  in 
a  manner  worthy  of  Himself ;  that  he  never  intended  to  come, 
a  second  time,  in  any  other  than  a  spiritual  manner ;  and  to  see 
that  the  language  in  which  his  promises  respecting  his  advent  are 
given,  interpreted  in  the  way  in  which  the  whole  Word  of  God 
proves  that  such  language  is  to  be  interpreted,  teaches  that  his 
coming  is  to  be  such  as  we  announce ; — such  a  belief  exposes  him 
who  holds  it  to  no  just  reproach,  but  shows  that  he  has  views  re- 
specting the  Lord  and  his  mode  of  dealing  with  mankind,  which 
tend  to  exalt  him  according  to  his  true  character,  and  to  impress 
on  his  creatures  the  feelings  of  veneration  and  love.  Yes,  my 
brethren,  accept  just  views,  I  entreat  you,  respecting  the  nature  of 
the  Lord's  second  advent,  and  do  not  go  on  expecting  it  ,  you 
and  your  children,  for  ages  yet  to  come,  in  a  manner  in  which 
it  will  never  take  place  ;  just  as  the  Jews  are  expecting  his  first 
advent,  in  a  manner  equally  far  from  its  true  nature,  to  the 
present  day.  Look  deliberately  at  the  considerations  which  we 
have  to  offer  on  this  subject,  and  which  will  be  more  fully  de- 
tailed in  the  course  of  our  subsequent  ministrations,  before  you 
do  yourselves  and  us  such  injustice  as  to  reject  them. 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

• 

Connected  with  the  Second  Coming  of  the  Lord,  is  the  intro- 
duction of  anew  dispensation  of  gospel-truth  and  love  :  and  this  is 
what  is  specifically  spoken  of  in  our  text,  which  it  is  time  that  we 
should  proceed  to  notice,  as  the  establishment  of  the  tabernacle 
of  God  among  men. 

Allow  me,  then,  on  this  subject,  to  observe,  that  it  is  the 
opinion  of  all,  except  some  miserable  sceptics, — and  it  is  the 
general  opinion  because  the  Scriptures  declare  it  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  all  ancient  nations  confirm  the  testimony, — that  man 
reallv  was,  in  the  primeval  ages,  an  image  and  likeness  of  God, 
and  lived  in  a  blissful  state  upon  earth.  Can  we  doubt,  that 
what  man  was  created  to  be  at  first,  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  he 
should  be  still,  and,  if  he  refuses  to  comply  with  the  plan  of 
his  Maker  in  one  age  and  period,  that  the  Providence  of  Infinite, 
lonsf-sufFerinof,  unwearied  Love,  would  still  watch  over  and  attend 
him,  striving  to  bring  him  back,  as  far  as  can  be  done  without 
destrovins:  his  very  nature,  to  order  and  purity,  to  perfection  and 
bliss, — to  be  an  image  and  likeness  of  God  again  ?  We  can- 
not stop  now  to  go  into  an  inquiry  respecting  the  cause  of  man's 
declension,  or  the  origin  of  evil :  we  may  be  sure  that  there  must 
be  something  in  the  constitution  of  man,  and  inseparable  from  his 
nature  as  a  creature  formed  with  the  capacity  of  being  an  image 
and  likeness  of  God,  which  left  him  liable  to  fall  if  he  chose  what 
caused  it.  "Whether  the  ultimate  well-being  of  the  human  race 
on  earth, — the  greatest  good  of  which  a  being  created  with  such 
faculties  is  capable, — could  have  been  attainable  without  the  per- 
mission of  the  evil  that  has  existed,  we  need  not  enquire  :  but  we 
are  sure  that  the  aim  of  the  Divine  Providence  must  be,  again  to 
bring  man  into  a  state  of  high  attainment  in  goodness  and  hap- 
piness on  earth.  The  Lord  desires  that  man  should  yet  again  be, 
an  image  and  likeness  of  God.  It  may  still  be  a  long  time  be- 
fore the  intractableness  of  corrupt  human  nature  may  permit  the 
benevolent  designs  of  Infinite  Goodness  to  take  their  full  effect. 
But  the  eye  must  be  blind  indeed,  which  does  not  discern,  in  the 
changes  which  are  taking  place  throughout  the  world  in  the 
present  dav,  in  the  altered  character,  as  it  would  even  appear,  of 
the  human  mind  itself,  and  the  boundless  improvements  which 
are  every  where  going  on  to  amend  the  condition  of  society,  that 


8  LECTURE  I. 

• 

a  hidden  influence  from  the  Father  of  mercies  is  operating  upon 
mankind.  Great  judgments,  indeed,  have  been  abroad  in  the 
earth  ;  as  divine  prophecy  announced  would  be  the  case  ;  and 
severe  suffering  is  now  experienced:  but  these  are  but  as  the 
throes  of  the  world,  in  giving  birth  to  a  state  of  permanent  im- 
provement ;  as  the  mystical  woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  seen 
by  John  in  the  Revelation,  "  being  with  child,  cried,  travailing  in 
birth  ;  and  pained  to  be  delivered."  The  signs  of  the  times,  in 
this  respect,  are  so  visible,  that  they  are  the  subject  of  perpetual 
observation  and  remark.  That  we  are  living  in  a  most  extraor- 
dinary era  of  the  world,  is  the  conviction  of  all.  The  philoso- 
pher, the  statesman,  the  divine,  all  are  perpetually  re-echoing  the 
acknowledgment.  Yes,  my  brethren  !  the  observation  is  most 
true  :  and.  the  change  which  is  taking  place  in  so  many  different 
ways,  is,  we  fear  not  to  assert,  the  effect  of  the  Lord's  making 
his  second  advent,  not  in  a  natural,  but  in  a  spiritual  manner. 
The  errors  that  have  obscured  true  Christianity,  and  the  evils 
which  have  destroyed  it,  will,  gradually,  be  removed  with  many. 
In  lieu  of  the  mistaken  doctrines  which  have  so  long  usurped  the 
name  of  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  such  as  all  those  relating  to, 
and  springing  out  of,  the  division  of  the  Godhead  into  three 
separate  persons,  will  be  established,  with  many,  the  pure  truths 
of  the  gospel  themselves,  all  which  centre  in  the  cardinal  point 
of  the  Unity  of  the  Godhead  and  the  concentration  of  the  Trinity 
in  the  Person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  producing  the  correspond- 
ing fruits  of  piety  and  true  holiness.  In  one  word,  a  pure  Chris- 
tian Church  will  arise  and  extend,  in  which  will  be  restored,  in 
greater  abundance  than  ever,  the  means  of  salvation,  and  men 
will  again  rise,  in  increasing  numbers,  to  the  true  dignity  of  their 
nature,  becoming  images  and  likenesses  of  God.  We  may  not 
live  to  see  much  of  this  take  effect ;  and  it  even  may  not  extend 
very  far  in  another  generation  :  that  which  is  to  be  lasting  is 
commonly  slow  :  but  the  signs  are  palpable  which  assure  us  that 
the  work  is  begun  ;  and  the  prophecies  of  Scripture  declare  to  us 
that  itwill  go  on,  and  that  the  heavenly  Jerusalem, — a  pure  Chris- 
tian Church, — will  be  eventually  established  on  the  earth. 

I  have  taken  as  a  text  the  passage  read  at  the  commencement 
of  the  discourse,  not  because  I  think  it  exactly  applicable  to  the 


INTRODUCTORY. 


9 


erecting  or  dedicating  of  this  bouse  for  worship, — not  because  I 
mean  to  say,  tbat  any  material  building  is  the  tabernacle  of  God 
with  men, — for  no  such  building,  since  the  age  of  types  and 
representations  has  passed  away,  can  properly  claim  this 
honour  :  but  because  the  passage  is  applicable  to  the  subject  we 
are  contemplating, — the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  to  taber- 
nacle, after  a  spiritual  manner,  with  men,  raising  up  a  pure 
Christian  Church,  and  manifesting  himself  therein  as  the  One  God 
in  his  Glorified  Human  Person,  in  which  his  name  is  Jesus  Chris^ 
"I  heard,"  says  the  favoured  Seer,  "a  great  voice  out  of 
heaven,  saying,  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and 
he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God 
himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God."  The  whole  Scrip- 
ture or  Word  of  God  contains  a  spiritual  sense,  totally  distinct 
from  the  literal,  though  contained  within  it,  as  the  soul  resides 
in  the  body  :  and  it  may  be  understood  by  a  knowledge  of  a 
certain  regular  analogy  or  correspondence,  by  which  spiritual 
and  mental  things  constantly  answer  to  certain  natural  and 
material  ones  :  on  which  subject  we  shall  be  more  particular  at 
future  opportunities.  The  tabernacle  of  God  is  representative 
of  the  Church,  in  which  alone  it  is  that  the  Lord  dwells  with 
men, — not  the  church  as  composed  of  a  house  or  building,  but 
the  Church  as  consisting  in  divine  truths  and  graces  received  in 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  true  worshippers  of  the  Lord.  That 
which  is  here  called,  by  the  voice  of  heaven,  the  tabernacle,  is 
called,  in  the  preceding  verse,  the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem, 
which  John  says  he  saw  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven, 
prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband  :  which,  again,  is 
another  representation  of  a  new  state  of  the  Christian  Church. 
In  this  tabernacle,  our  text  says,  God  will  dwell  with  men  :  but 
how  ?  As  the  tabernacle,  or  the  city  Jerusalem  seen  to  descend 
in  vision,  does  not  mean  literally  a  tabernacle  or  city,  so  the 
dwelling  of  God  therein  does  not  mean  his  dwelling  in  any  local 
habitation  in  person.  The  way  in  which  God  is  to  dwell  with 
his  people,  and  in  his  tabernacle  or  church,  is,  by  his  Spirit;  not, 
again,  by  his  Spirit  as  a  person,  but  by  the  influence  of  the  life 
of  his  love  and  wisdom,  operating  saving  graces  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  receive  it,  and  renewing  them  into  his  image  and 


10 


LECTURE  I. 


likeness.  Such  being  their  state  as  to  their  hearts  and  souls,  it 
is  said  further,  that  "they  shall  be  his  people"  an  endearing 
phrase,  often  used  in  the  Holy  Word  in  reference  to  those  real 
servants  of  the  Lord  who  are  made  his  children  by  the  reception 
of  his  truth  as  the  guide  of  all  their  conduct:  and  'when  it  is 
said  in  addition,  "  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be 
their  God,"  it  implies  a  reciprocal  state  of  conjunction  with  the 
Lord,  He  imparting  to  them  the  life  of  his  Divine  Truth,  and 
<hey  receiving  it  with  supreme  veneration,  and  exalting  it  to  the 
highest  place  in  their  affections.  That  is  called  a  person's  god, 
in  Scripture,  in  the  spiritual  sense,  which  forms  his  governing 
end  and  motive,  to  which  all  his  thoughts  and  affections  spon- 
taneously turn :  how  excellent,  then,  how  truly  orderly,  is  that 
state,  respecting  which  it  is  said,  that  God  himself  shall  really 
be  the  God  of  his  people,  the  absolute  object  of  their  supreme 
and  constant  regards,  the  inmost  centre  of  their  hearts  and 
souls  ?  We  call  the  Lord  our  God,  because  we  have  learned, 
from  Scripture  and  doctrine,  that  He  is  the  supreme  Ruler  and 
Proprietor  of  all  things,  and  ought,  therefore,  to  be  venerated  by 
us  with  devout  adoration  and  humble  love :  but  whatever  pro- 
fession we  may  make,  he  actually  is  not  our  God,  in  the  emphatic 
style  of  Scripture,  unless  he  really  does  reign  through  all  our  heart 
and  mind ;  unless  we  constantly  and  spontaneously  make  Him  the 
ultimate  end  of  all  our  thoughts,  aims,  affections  and  actions  ; 
unless  all  the  interiors  of  the  soul  constantly  turn  towards  Him  as 
their  proper  life  and  centre.  Thus  an  actual  conjunction  of  life 
is  effected  between  man  and  his  God  ;  God  continually  presenting 
to  man  the  riches  of  his  grace,  and  man  receiving  them,  appro- 
priating them,  and  referring  them  again  to  their  all-merciful 
Author,  in  devout  acknowledgment  and  grateful  adoration. 

But  there  is  one  particular,  here,  which  points  out  who  the 
God  is  that  will  thus  bless  his  people.  It  is  not  only  said,  that 
He  will  be  their  God,  as  is  the  customary  form  of  promises  of 
this  kind  in  the  Old  Testament,  but  it  is  said,  more  fully,  that 
God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God.  Now  who 
is  he  that  is  described  in  Scripture,  as  God  with  man,  God  with 
them,  or,  in  the  title  solemnly  given  him,  the  meaning  of  which 
is  precisely  the  same,  God  with  us.    As  Matthew  says,  applying 


INTRODUCTORY. 


11 


the  old  prophecy  of  Isaiah  to  the  birth  of  Jesus,  "  Behold,  a 
virgin  shall  be  with  child,  and  shall  bring  forth  a  son,  and  they 
shall  call  his  name  Emmanuel,  which,  being  interpreted,  is,  God 
with  us."  It  is,  then,  in  his  character  as  Immanuel,  that  the 
heavenly  voice  declares  in  our  text  that  God  himself  shall  be 
with  them  ;  and  Immanuel  is  the  God  we  worship, — the  Infinite 
Jehovah  clothed  with  a  glorified  or  Divine  Humanity, — the 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  concentrated  in  the  single  Divine  . 
Person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

According,  then,  to  the  passage  before  us,  we  find,  that  a  state 
is  to  arrive  in  this  world,  when  the  presence  of  the  Lord  wilh  his 
people,  who  will  be  restored  again  to  his  image  and  likeness,  is  to 
be  experienced  in  an  eminent  manner.  There  are  yet  happy  times, 
we  see,  the  result  of  the  reception  of  grace  and  goodness  from  the 
Lord,  in  store  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  I  say,  for  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth,  for  the  symbolic  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem, 
is  said  to  descend  from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  the  tabernacle  of 
God,  it  is  declared,  shall  be  with  men  :  most  vain  and  idle  then 
are  the  dreams  of  those  who  imagine,  that  the  vision  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  is  only  a  representation  of  the  happiness  of  saints  in 
heaven; — a  fmcy  which,  as  it  was  of  late  introduction,  has  now 
again  lost  credit  with  most  of  the  expositors.  Yes,  my  friends,  we 
may  be  assured  of  it :  the  blessings  of  which  our  text  is  descrip- 
tive ;  the  good  and  happiness  spiritually  signified  when  it  is  said 
that&he  tabernacle  of  God  shall  be  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall 
be  with  them,  even  the  blessed. Immanuel,  and  be  their  God, — 
the  blessings  thus  promised  are  to  be  yet  enjoyed  by  the  long 
bewildered,  long  straying  creatures  of  the  human  race.  The 
time  must  come,  for  Divine  Truth  has  declared  it :  and  why  may 
not  the  approach  of  it  be  dawning  on  us  now  ?  Can  it  do  us  any 
harm  to  believe  so  ; — so  long,  that  is,  as  we  have  purely  spiritual 
ideas  of  its  nature,  and  do  not,  as  is  too  common  with  others, 
cherish  any  fanatical  expectations  of  external  changes  and  won- 
ders ?  Can  it  do  us  any  harm  to  be  persuaded,  that  the  taber- 
nacle of  God  is,  even  now,  spiritually  appearing  among  men,  and 
to  strive,  in  consequence,  to  become  of  the  number  of  that  people, 
as  already  described,  with  whom,  alone,  God  can  dwell. 


12 


LECTURE  I. 


One  thing,  at  least,  I  apprehend,  all  will  acknowledge  ;  which 
is,  that  we,  who  have  received  an  undoubting  conviction  of  these 
things,  would  be  sadly  wanting  in  our  duty  if  we  neglected  to 
announce  them  as  far  as  we  have  opportunity.  The  treasures  of 
which  we  have  partaken  are  too  precious,  and  the  sense  which 
they  inspire  of  the  benefit  of  possessing  them  too  overwhelming, 
to  permit  us  to  incur  the  responsibility  of  trying  to  enjoy  them  in 
.secret.  In  truth,  we  cannot  but  earnestly  desire,  that  what  we 
find  so  delightful  and  beneficial  to  ourselves  should  be  enjoyed 
by  others, — that  multitudes  of  our  fellow-creatures  should  be 
introduced  within  the  walls  of  that  Holy  City,  where  we  behold 
so  bright  a  light  to  shine,  such  heavenly  beatitudes  to  abound, 
and  so  beneficent  a  King  to  reign.  We  cannot  contrast  the 
divine  and  soul-reviving  splendours  which  glow  within,  with  the 
darkness  which, — pardon  my  Christian  freedom  for  saying  it — 
prevails  without ;  and  not  be  inflamed  with  the  desire  to  be 
instrumental  in  transferring  the  wanderers  in  the  latter  to  the 
security  of  the  former.  We  cannot  contemplate  the  cloud — par- 
don again  the  sincerity  that  I  am  constrained  to  use, — which 
overspreads  the  world  called  Christian  in  respect  to  the  Object  of 
Christian  worship  ;  we  cannot  behold  our  fellow  creatures,  bearing 
the  name  of  Christians,  addressing  their  worship  to  three  divine 
persons  in  succession,  and  thus  departing  from  the  precept  of 
Jehovah  when  he  says,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  odier  Gods  before 
me;"  and  that  of  Jesus  Christ  which  says,  "Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  /  will  give  you  rest ;" — 
and  we  cannot  think  at  the  same  time  of  the  meridian  clearness 
in  which,  in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  set  forth  as  the  Christian's  God,  in  whose  person  is  the 
Father,  and  from  whose  person  proceeds  the  Holy  Spirit, — who 
alone  is  able  to  heal  all  manner  of  spiritual  sickness,  and  all  man- 
ner of  spiritual  disease,  and  to  feed  all  the  multitudes  who  follow 
him  with  true  spiritual  food,  even  his  own  flesh  and  blood,  which 
are  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom  : — we  cannot  draw  this  contrast, 
and  not  earnestly  desire  to  withdraw  our  fellow-creatures  from 
their  obscure  'view  and  erroneous  worship,  and  conduct  them 
to  the  clear  and  the  true.  We  cannot  reflect  on  the  certain 
manner  in  which,  in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the 


INTRODUCTORY. 


13 


path  to  the  seats  of  bliss  is  opened  to  our  advancement ;  we  can- 
not behold  therein  all  the  discrepancies  which  other  sentiments 
suppose  between  the  law  and  the  gospel  removed ;  we  cannot 
hear  again  the  Divine  Saviour  declaring,  that  "the  first  of  all 
the  commandments  is,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength  ; 
and  the  second  is  lute  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself;"  and  hear  him  say  further,  "  This  do,  and  thou  shalt 
live  ;"  we  cannot  hear  him  affirm,  in  addition,  that  the  conditions 
of  discipleship  with  Him  are  the  same, — "  He  that  hath  my  com- 
mandments, and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me  :  and  he 
that  loveth  me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father  ;  and  I  will  love  him, 
ai^d  will  manifest  myself  unto  him  :"  we  cannot  reflect  on  the 
manner  in  which  all  this  is  perverted, — I  must  take  leave  to  say 
so, — in  the  doctrines  commonly  prevailing,  in  which  people  have 
the  dangerous  sentiment  instilled  into  their  minds  that  they 
cannot  keep  the  law  of  God,  and  thus  are  naturally  led  to  desist 
from  trying  to  keep  it,  being  persuaded  that  they  may  be  saved 
without  it : — we  cannot  contemplate  all  this,  without  again 
desiring  to  lead  our  brethren  out  of  the  entanglements  of  error 
into  the  straight  path  of  pure  and  genuine  truth.  So,  again, 
look  at  the  glories  which  are  set  before  our  eyes,  within  the 
walls  of  the  tabernacle  of  God,  in  the  unfolding  of  the  spiritual 
sense  of  the  Holy  Word.  How  does  the  Word  of  God  now 
become  to  us  the  Word  of  God  indeed,  everywhere  filled  with  the 
wisdom  of  God,  and  thus  seen  to  be  worthy  of  the  fountain  from 
which  it  flowed,  and  of  the  plenary  divine  inspiration  by  which 
it  was  written  !  Here  are  treasures  indeed  for  the  soul  that  has 
a  longing  for  true  spiritual  riches,  and  is  in  quest  of  the  pearl 
of  great  price  !  And  how  immense  does  their  importance  become 
when  contrasted  with  the  notions  of  the  Word  of  God  enter- 
tained by  those  who  are  unconscious  of  its  containing  a  spiritual 
sense,  and  are  content  to  wander  over  the  surface  of  the  sacred 
field,  without  concerning  themselves  about  the  treasures  hid  in 
that  field  !  What  low  notions  of  all  its  contents'then  universally 
prevail,  insomuch  that  none  can  really  view  it  (and  in  these 
days  few  profess  to  view  it)  as  written  by  an  entire  inspiration  ! 
How  then  can  we  fail,  if  we  feel  what  we  believe,  to  seek  the 


14 


LECTURE  I. 


opportunity  of  speaking  of  these  treasures  to  our  fellow-creatures  ! 
*To  touch  only  on  one  more  of  the  advantages  which  we  have  to 
offer  to  our  brother  immortals  in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem : — for  who  can  close  even  the  slightest  enumeration  of 
them  without  adverting  to  the  manner  in  which  the  eternal 
world,  its  reality,  its  glories,  and  its  immediate  nearness,  are  in 
those  doctrines  displayed  before  our  eyes  ?  We  know  that  this 
world  is  only  a  training  place  for  heaven  ; — that  we  are  sent  here 
for  a  season  to  prepare  us  for  a  home  in  eternity, — to  make  up 
our  state  (awful  consideration !)  and  to  acquire  a  fixity  in  the 
form  of  our  spirit,  to  qualify  it  for  living  afterwards  an  imperish- 
able life  for  ever.  We  know  that  we  enter  on  this  imperishable 
life  immediately  after  death,  without  any  interval  of  suspense  or 
insensibility  ;  that  we  rise  into  the  eternal  world  as  men, — as 
human  beings  endowed  with  every  sense  and  faculty  belonging 
to  men,  but  in  a  much  more  perfect  state  than  can  be  given 
here  ;  that  heaven  then  stands  before  us,  containing  all  that  can 
add  to  the  happiness  of  intelligent  beings,  into  which  we  shall 
enter,  if  we  have  made  that  use  of  our  day  of  probation 
here  for  which  it  is  given,  and,  in  the  presence  of  our  God,  shall 
go  on  advancing  in  wisdom,  love,  and  blessedness,  for  ever.  Our 
ideas  also  of  the  nature  of  the  dark  world,  (though  we  will  not 
dwell  on  that  subject  now,)  are  such  as  to  convince  us  that  such 
a  state  exists,  and  that  it  is  beyond  conception  wretched  ;  while 
the  useful  warning  hence  arising  is  supplied  with  all  that  should 
be  necessary  to  make  it  efficacious,  when  we  know,  that  it  is 
ready  to  swallow  up  the  wicked  immediately  after  death.  Here 
are  ideas  which  give  the  eternal  world  reality  in  our  estimation, 
and  which,  to  those  who  so  live  as  to  be  prepared  for  it,  strip 
death  of  its  terrors  :  whereas,  on  these  subjects,  how  dark  are  the 
views  generally  prevailing !  Even  to  the  best  of  men,  how  horrible 
is  death,  when  accompanied  with  the  notion,  that  there  is  no  real 
resurrection  till  the  body  comes  to  life  again,  no  one  knows  when. 
Does  not  this  tend  to  fix  the  thoughts,  when  contemplating  the 
change  made  by  death,  not  upon  heaven,  but  upon  the  tomb  ? 
With  such  apprehensions,  does  not  man  look  upon  the  grave,  as, 
what  it  is  often  denominated,  his  long  home  ?  With  what  gloom 
and  horror  are  such  conceptions  filled  !    Then  must  not  our 


INTRODUCTORY. 


15 


hearts  burn  to  relieve  our  fellow-creatures  from  such  dark  appre- 
hensions,— to  call  them  to  those  views  of  the  life  hereafter  which 
we  find  so  consoling, — to  raise  the  thoughts  of  immortal  man 
from  such  dead  imaginations — from  dust  and  ashes,  and  worms, 
and  the  long  night  of  the  sepulchre — to  living  realities,  to  angelic 
life,  and  capacities,  and  enjoyments,  and  an  immediate  entrance 
on  eternal  glory  ? 

Such,  brethren,  are  some  of  the  views,  by  which,  as  we  con- 
ceive, the  doctrines  of  the  True  Christian  Church,  which  we  be- 
lieve is  signified  by  the  New  Jerusalem,  recommend  themselves 
to  the  attention  both  of  the  admirers  of  reason  and  the  disciples 
of  the  Scriptures;  and  which,  as  we  believe,  are  now  made 
known,  in  consequence  of  the  time  for  the  Lord's  Second  Ad- 
vent, having  arrived.  Such  views  of  Divine  Truth,  it  surely  will 
be  admitted,  are  at  least  intitled  to  have  their  claims  to  accept- 
ance fairly  and  dispassionately  examined.  Even  were  we  to  con- 
cede the  possibility  of  our  being  in  error  in  supposing  the  time  to 
have  arrived  for  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord,  and  for  the  set- 
ting up  of  his  tabernacle,  as  predicted  in  our  text,  among  man- 
kind, this  would  not  detract  from  the  intrinsic  value  of  the 
truths  we  offer ;  and  such  an  error  would  be  a  very  harmless 
one,  since  it  could  lead  to  no  evils  nor  ill  consequences  in  regard 
to  life,  practice,  faith  in  the  Lord,  nor,  consequently,  salvation. 
Look,  we  beseech  you,  at  the  truths  just  propounded,  and  at. 
those  which  will  be  developed  in  our  subsequent  Lectures  ;  yea, 
at  all  the  principles  comprised  in  the  whole  system  of  doctrine 
which  we  recommend,  drawn,  as  they  always  are,  from  the  Word 
of  God,  opened,  as  we  believe,  in  consequence  of  the  Lord's 
second  advent :  consider,  deliberately  and  steadily,  whether  they 
be  truths  indeed:  and  if  you  find  them  such,  you  cannot  think 
we  are  much  mistaken  as  to  the  means  by  which  we  came  pos- 
sessed of  them.  But  look,  especially,  at  the  proper  and  obvious 
tendency  of  our  doctrines.  They  may,  indeed,  be  professed  in 
words,  where  they  are  not  admitted  into  the  heart;  but  consider 
what  their  natural  effect,  if  received  in  the  heart  and  made  the 
guide  of  life,  must  be  upon  the  mind,  temper,  and  conduct. 
Examine  whether  they  tend  to  make  those  who  accept  them 
more  dutiful  to  God,  more  just  to  man ;  to  root  out  the  evil 


10 


LECTURE  I. 


passions,  the  unhallowed  lusts,  grounded  in  self-love  and  the  love 
of  the  world,  which  make  the  bosom  that  cherishes  them  a  tor- 
ment to  itself  and  a  pest  to  others, — which  tend  to  unhinge  the 
whole'  fabric  of  human  society,  to  make  the  world,  which  God 
created  as  a  terrestrial  paradise,  an  image  of  the  regions  be- 
neath,— and  to  render  mankind,  whom  God  designed  to  be  a 
family  of  brethren, — a  school  as  of  innocent  children  training  for 
maturity  in  heaven,  the  images  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  dens  of 
darkness,  yea,  actual  demons  themselves.  See  whether  the  effect 
of  these  truths,  received  with  sincerity  and  affection,  is  likely  to 
be,  the  re-establishment  in  the  heart  of  the  graces  which  are  the 
opposites  of  these  pernicious  vices;  to  make  the  love  of  God  and 
the  love  of  our  neighbour  the  ruling  principles  of  the  life  and 
conduct ;  to  bring,  as  the  inseparable  attendants  of  these  celestial 
guests,  peace,  tranquillity,  contentment  of  mind  ;  to  heal  the  dis- 
orders which  man's  destructive  passions  have  introduced  into  the 
world  around  him,  and  to  restore,  in  proportion  to  the  univer- 
sality of  their  acceptance  in  the  heart,  the  image  of  heaven  upon 
earth.  O  !  my  brethren,  what  was  man  made  for  ?  What  could 
he  be  made  for,  rational,  immortal  and  accountable,  as  he  con- 
fessedly is, — but  to  be,  what  the  Divine  Record  declares  he 
originally  was, — an  image  and  likeness  of  God?  What  is  God, 
whose  image  and  likeness  man  was  created  to  be  ?  God  is  life, 
and  the  source  of  it :  and  hence  man  has  life  as  a  recipient  from 
the  Infinite  Source  ;  not  life  in  himself,  or  that  he  is  life  itself,  as 
God  is,  and  none  but  God  can  be ;  but  derivative  hfe,  or  life  re- 
ceived by  perpetual  communication  from  its  inexhaustible  foun- 
tain. But  so  are  the  beasts  recipients  of  life  ;  it  is  not  therefore 
by  the  reception  of  life  alone,  independently  of  its  quality  and 
the  mode  of  its  activity,  that  man  is  an  image  of  his  Maker. 
But  God  is  Eternal :  and  man  is  immortal  by  derivation  from 
God's  eternity  :  that  is,  having  once  begun  to  receive  life  from 
the  Infinite  Source,  he  continues  to  receive  it  without  end,  be- 
cause, in  its  Source,  it  is  eternal.  But  man  can,  and  often  does, 
and  this  throughout  his  immortality,  employ  or  apply  his  Hfe  in 
contrariety  to  his  Maker:  whence,  again,  we  see,  that  it  is  not 
the  mere  capacity  of  life  eternal  that  makes  man  an  image  of 
God.    The  life  of  every  being  whatever  is  nothing  but  the  acti- 


INTRODUCTORY. 


17 


vity  of  his  moral  qualities :  and  the  life  of  the  Lord  is  the  activity  of 
his  moral  qualities,  which  are  love  and  wisdom,  goodness  and  truth : 
Yea:  these  attributes  form  the  very  essence  of  his  nature  :  He  is 
love  itself  and  wisdom  itself, — good  itself  and  truth  itself.  To  be 
an  image  and  likeness  of  God,  is,  then,  to  be  a  recipient  of  the 
love  and  wisdom  of  God ; — a  being  in  whom  pure  love  and  wis- 
dom, originating  in  infinite  love  and  wisdom,  form  the  very  prin- 
ciples of  the  life,  and  determine  the  constitution  of  the  mind. 
This,  my  brethren,  is  what  man  was  made  for :  this  is  the  state 
to  which,  our  doctrines  teach  us,  he  is  to  strive  to  return  :  and 
what  a  glorious,  what  a  happy  being  would  he  form,  were  this 
the  manner  in  which  his  mind  were  constituted  and  determined  ; 
— if  he  had  no  feelings  in  his  bosom  but  what  own  love  and 
goodness  as  their  parent ;  no  thoughts  in  his  mind  but  what  are 
forms  and  expressions  of  real  wisdom  and  truth  ;  and  yet  both 
his  feelings  and  his  thoughts  were  ever  in  strong  expansion  and 
activity,  his  heart  always  overflowing  with  warm  affections,  his 
intellect  always  teeming  with  vivid  conceptions  !  How  happy 
would  it  be  to  live  in  society  with  such  companions  !  How  great 
would  be  the  stock  of  happiness  in  the  world,  if  all  acted  from 
the  dictates  of  these  holy  principles  !  Inherent  in  the  principles 
themselves  are  the  very  springs  of  delight :  and  how  immense 
would  be  the  amount  produced,  if  all  were  ever  aiming,  as  their 
love  would  ever  prompt  them  to  do,  to  communicate  delight  and 
good  to  others  !  It  is  not  the  grasping,  but  the  giving  principle, 
that  happiness  dwells  in.  Such  is  the  nature  of  society  in 
heaven  :  for,  there,  all  are  images  and  likenesses  of  God  :  and 
earth  would  be  an  image  of  heaven,  if  such  were  the  principles 
that  influenced  men  here.  Such,  we  are  assured  by  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,  it  must  be  our  endeavour  to  become  on 
earth  :  and  in  proportion  as  the  love  of  the  Lord  and  our  neigh- 
bour is  thus  established  in  our  hearts,  the  tabernacle  of  God  will 
be  individually  with  us  :  we  shall  be  His  people,  and  God  Himself 
will  be  with  us,  and  be  our  God. 


3 


LECTURE  II. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  RELIGION,  AS  CONSISTING  IN  THE  KNOW- 
LEDGE, LOVE  AND  WORSHIP  OP  THE  LORD,  FOR  MAINTAINING 
THE  CONNEXION  BETWEEN  MAN  AND  HIS  MAKER. 


ISA.  XXIV.  5,  6. 

"  The  earth  is  defiled  under  the  inhabitants  thereof;  because  they 
have  transgressed  the  laics,  changed  the  ordinance,  broken  the 
everlasting  covenant.  Therefore  hath  the  curse  devoured  the 
earth,  and  they  that  dwell  therein  arc  desolate :  therefore  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth  arc  burned,  and  few  men  left." 

In  our  opening  Lecture,  we  adverted  to  several  principal  truths 
comprised  in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Church  ;  that 
is,  the  doctrines  which  we  believe  to  be  those  of  the  true  Chris- 
tian Religion,  the  revival  of  which  in  the  latter  days,  in  greater 
clearness  and  glory  than  ever  was  witnessed  in  former  ages,  we 
believe  to  be  signified  by  the  New  Jerusalem  that  was  seen  by 
John  to  descend  from  God  out  of  heaven,  as  described  in  the 
two  last  chapters  of  the  Revelation.  Most  of  the  truths  then 
summarily  propounded,  I  propose  to  elucidate  in  the  present  and 
some  subsequent  Lectures. 

I  would  first  observe,  that  Jerusalem,  all  Christian  writers 
acknowledge,  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  prophetic  parts  of 
Scripture,  not  to  signify  merely  the  city  of  that  name  formerly 
inhabited  by  the  Jews,  but  the  Church  of  the  Lord,  and  often, 
specifically,  the  Church  established  at  the  Lord's  first  advent, 
and  called,  from  the  name  under  which  He  then  appeared,  the 
Christian  Church.  Evidently,  then,  a  New  Jerusalem,  prophe- 
sied of  after  the  Christian  Church  had  commenced,  and  with 
circumstances  which  cannot  possibly  belong  to  a  mere  city  of 
any  kind  ; — a  Jerusalem  described  by  a  Christian  prophet  as 


NECESSITY  OF  RELIGION*. 


19 


descending  from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  as  being  of  the  extra- 
ordinary dimensions  of  twelve  thousand  furlongs,  that  is,  fifteen 
hundred  miles,  not  only  in  length  and  breadth,  but  also  in 
height ; — evidently,  such  a  New  Jerusalem  most  denote  a  new 
Christian  Church, — or  the  Christian  Church  under  a  new  mani- 
festation of  its  pure  and  saving  truths, — under  a  new  dispen- 
sation of  divine  mere}-  and  grace,  vouchsafed  from  the  Lord  as 
his  last  and  best  gift  to  the  favoured  children  of  men.  We  are 
convinced,  from  numerous  signs  and  evidences  open  to  the  ob- 
servation of  all,  that  the  era  thus  prefigured  is,  at  the  present 
day,  dawning  upon  mankind ;  and  that  the  truths  of  the  pure 
Christian  Religion,  as  they  are  to  be  received  under  this  new 
dispensation  of  it,  are  now  made  known,  and  will  by  degrees, 
in  the  Lord's  own  time,  find  an  extensive  reception  in  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  men.  We  feel  it  therefore  to  be  our  duty  to  press 
on  our  fellow  mortals,  or  rather  our  fellow  immortals,  the  accept- 
ance of  these  pure  and  glorious  truths,  and  to  lay  them  before 
the  world  through  every  channel  that  we  can  command  for  their 
diffusion.  This  has,  accordingly,  been  done,  in  various  ways, 
during  several  years  past :  and  the  consequence  has  been,  that 
there  now  are  numbers  who  acknowledge  them,  not  only  in  this 
country,  but  in  every  country  of  Christendom  upon  the  surface 
of  the  globe.  But,  as  was  to  be  expected,  this  has  not  been  done 
without  its  meeting  with  opposition.  As  Christianity  itself,  at 
its  first  rise,  is  denominated,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  "  a 
sect  which  is  even-where  spoken  against;"  as  its  Divine  Author 
himself  was  denounced  as  one  who  "had  a  devil  and  was  mad," 
and  his  followers  were  pursued  with  ever}'  species  of  calumny 
and  revilement ;  so  have  diligent  efforts  been  made  to  hold  up 
to  public  scorn  and  abhorrence  the  doctrines  now  put  forth  anew 
as  those  of  the  true  Christian  Religion,  together  with  the  un- 
offending persons  who  have  received  them  as  such.  Very  exten- 
sive prejudice  has  thus  been  excited  in  the  professing  Christian 
world  ;  and  man}-,  I  am  fully  persuaded,  are  thus  influenced  to 
turn  away  from  our  doctrines,  who,  if  they  rightly  understood 
what  they  are,  would  receive  them  with  joy  as  a  precious  boon 
from  heaven.  It  is  possible  that  some  now  present  ma}-  thus 
have  been  led  to  look  at  our  proceedings  with  a  jealous  eye  and 


-JO 


LECTURE  II. 


to  listen  to  our  sentiments  with  distrust  and  suspicion.  If  so, 
lay  aside,  I  intreat  you,  every  such  feeling  from  your  minds,  till 
you  arc  fully  enabled  to  judge  for  yourselves  of  the  doctrines  we 
have  to  offer.  And,  I  would  say  to  all,  judge  of  those  doctrines  as 
persons  of  intelligence  and  sound  judgment,  exercising  freely  for 
the  purpose  the  faculty  of  reason,  the  capacity  of  distinguishing 
between  truth  and  error,  which  the  God  of  all  truth  has  gra- 
ciously bestowed  upon  us  all.  Judge  of  them,  not  from  their 
agreement  or  disagreement  with  any  preconceived  system  of 
faith  o  doctrine,  but  from  their  agreement  or  disagreement  with 
the  dictates  of  the  truth  itself,  as  revealed  in  the  scriptures,  and 
understood  by  the  exercise  of  your  own  rational  faculty.  I  con- 
fess, what  may  tend  to  excite  prejudice  in  some,  that  we  believe 
the  systems  of  doctrine  at  present  prevailing  throughout  the 
Christian  world  to  be  all  more  or  less  erroneous,  and  that  even 
in  points  which  are  fundamental.  But  what  is  there  in  this 
which  should  give  offence  to  any  individual  ?  Are  we,  as  the 
Apostle  asks  the  Galatians,  your  enemies,  because  we  tell  you 
the  truth,  as  we  most  sincerely  believe  ?  We  are  far  from  im- 
puting blame  to  any  one  on  account  of  the  religious  sentiments 
which  he  may  entertain.  Let  those  sentiments  be  ever  so  erro- 
neous, they  are  not  of  his  own  invention  ;  and,  in  very  many 
cases,  we  are  quite  convinced,  they  are  only  held  by  him, 
because  he  has  not  had  the  opportunity  of  choosing  between 
them  and  better.  But  even  where  it  is  otherwise,  error  in  points 
of  doctrine  is  not  a  ground  for  regarding  any  one  with  unkind- 
ness  ;  though,  alas  !  this  sentiment  has  been  too  little  received 
and  acted  upon  in  the  professing  Christian  world,  and  persecution 
on  account  of  difference  in  religious  sentiment  has  been  too 
generally  and  cruelly  practised.  Our  doctrines,  however,  teach 
us  better.  They  teach  us  to  regard  all  mankind  as  our  brethren, 
and  to  be  wanting  in  charity  towards  no  one,  because  we  think 
him  mistaken  in  his  creed.  They  instruct  us,  that,  in  forming 
his  divine  judgments,  God  looketh  not  at  the  eyes  or  understand- 
ing (as  it  is  expressed  in  his  Word)  but  at  the  heart ;  and,  where 
this  is  right  with  him,  he  rejects  no  one  for  his  mistakes  in 
opinion  :  and  we  believe  that,  what  we  are  assured  is  the  practice 
of  our  heavenly  Father,  ought  to  be  ours,  if  we  would  be  truly 


NECESSITY  OF  RELIGION.  21 

his  children.  If  then  we  are  constrained,  in  delivering  what  we 
believe  to  be  the  truth,  to  speak  of  doctrines  as  erroneous,  which 
some  of  you,  perhaps,  may  highly  esteem,  be  assured  that  we  do 
it  with  no  unkind  feeling  towards  those  who  regard  them  as 
true.  Bear  with  us  then  in  love  :  and  candidly  weigh  the  senti- 
ments which,  in  love,  and  with  a  real  concern  for  your  best 
interests,  we  offer  as  those  of  the  true  Christian  Church,  under 
the  New  Jerusalem  Dispensation  of  its  saving  glories. 

As  stated  in  our  last,  it  is  proposed  to  deliver  a  Series  of 
Lectures  upon  some  of  the  most  important  truths  of  the  pure 
Christian  Religion,  as  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Jerusalem  pre- 
sent them  to  the  understanding  of  the  candidate  for  a  blissful 
immortality.  The  subject  which  I  have  made  choice  of  for  the 
present  occasion,  and  on  which  I  made  a  very  cursory  obser- 
vation in  our  last,  is.  one  of  a  ver}T  general  yet  very  important 
nature  :  it  is  a  subject,  in  our  sentiments  on  which  every  sincere 
Christian  must  cordially  unite  with  us  ;  though  perhaps  we  can 
offer  reasons  for  the  truth,  which  we  herein  advocate  in  common 
with  all  the  Christian  world,  which  Christians  in  general  are  not 
aware  of,  and  which  place  the  great  point  to  be  established  on  the 
most  evident  and  solid  basis.  With  Christians  then,  in  general, 
in  this  Lecture,  I  have  no  controversy  :  you  all,  if  Christians,  will 
go,  on  this  occasion,  heartily  along  with  me  :  my  object  at  pre- 
sent, is,  to  establish  the  common  foundation  of  the  Christian  and 
of  all  true  religion  :  and  my  controversy  is  only  with  Deists  and 
Infidels  ;  with  men  who,  while  they  profess  to  believe  in  a  God, 
deny  the  revelation  which  He  has  made  of  Himself  in  his 
Word  ;  deem  any  particular  knowledge  of  Him  altogether  un- 
attainable, regard  all  actual  love  of  Him  as  purely  chimerical, 
and  consider  the  worship  of  Him  as  superfluous  and  useless.  In 
this  latter  respect,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  there  are  many  who  call 
themselves  Christians  that  coincide  in  sentiment  with  the  abso- 
lute deniers  of  Revelation,  and  who,  if  they  join  in  the  worship 
of  their  Creator  at  all,  do  so  rather  in  compliance  with  the  cus- 
toms of  Christian  and  civilized  society,  than  from  any  conviction 
of  its  necessity  and  obligation.  What  I  propose  then  to  show, 
in  this  Lecture,  according  to  the  light  which  we  derive  from  the 
Word  of  God  as  explained  by  the  doctrines  which  we  believe 


22 


LECTURE  II. 


to  be  those  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  is  this :  The  Necessity  of 
Religion,  as  consisting  in  the  knowledge,  love,  and,  worship  of  the 
Lord,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  connexion  between  man  and  his 
Maker. 

As  collateral  with  this  proposition,  and  as  arising  out  of  it,  it 
will  follow,  that  the  nearness  of  the  connexion  between  man  and 
his  Maker,  will  be  according  to  the  purity  of  his  religion,  and 
thus  according  to  the  truth  of  his  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  the 
ardour  of  his  love  for  him,  and  the  sincerity  of  his  worship  of 
Him.  Be  it  likewise  observed  incidentally,  that  it  will  hence 
also  follow,  that,  if  the  purity  of  religion  should  now,  or  at  any 
period  whatever,  be  in  danger  of  failing  among  mankind,  there 
can  be  nothing  too  great,  or  too  extraordinary,  for  God  to  do,  if 
He  is  in  reality  a  God  of  love,  in  order  to  restore  it ;  and  we  may 
rely  upon  it  as  a  fact  of  the  most  positive  certainty,  that  He  will, 
or  would,  in  such  case,  interfere  for  that  purpose.  It  will,  in  ad- 
dition, follow,  further,  that  if  the  doctrines,  which  we  receive  as 
those  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  teach  the  purest  religion  ;  if  they 
communicate,  with  the  utmost  clearness,  the  true  knowledge  of 
God ;  if  they  tend  to  excite  the  most  ardent  love  for  his  adorable 
perfections,  and  supply  the  strongest  motives  to  the  sincere  wor- 
ship of  his  most  glorious  Person  ;  they  must  in  reality  be  them- 
selves from  God,  the  result  of  a  gracious  interference  of  his 
goodness  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  worthy  to  be  embraced 
by  man  with  all  confidence  and  thankfulness.  Permit  me,  my 
dear  friends  all,  to  say,  that  such  we  esteem  them,  and  therefore 
it  is  that  we  desire  to  recommended  them  to  you,  believing  that  we 
can  no  otherwise  confer  on  you  so  great  a  good.  But  it  is  not 
my  intention  to  insist  on  these  points  this  evening.  At  present 
I  shall  confine  myself  to  the  proper  subject  of  this  Lecture, — 
the  Necessity  of  Religion,  as  consisting  in  the  knowledge,  love 
and  worship  of  the  Lord,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  connexion 
between  man  and  his  Maker  : 

By  the  connexion  between  man  and  God,  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  we  mean,  more  especially,  that  connexion  which  is  proper  to 
man  as  a  man,  and  which  may  more  accurately  be  denominated 
conjunction,  being  what  is  commonly,  but  improperly,  termed 
union.    Men  having  no  religion  whatever,  are,  it  is  true,  but  too 


NECESSITY  OP  RELIGION. 


23 


frequently  to  be  met  with  ;  and,  what  is  apparently  very  extra- 
ordinary, they  are  far  more  numerous  in  countries  called  Christian 
than  among  any  sort  of  heathens  whatever.  But,  without  con- 
nexion with  God,  who  is  the  Only  Fountain  of  life,  nothing  what- 
ever could  exist  for  a  single  moment:  consequently,  even  the 
total  absence  of  religion,  proceeding  to  the  denial  of  the  being  of 
a  God,  as  it  does  not  deprive  a  man  of  existence,  does  not  sepa- 
rate him  from  all  connexion  with  the  neglected  Author  of  his 
being.  So,  again,  animals  are  incapable  of  religion  altogether  : 
yet  they  live,  and  that  from  God,  and  by  virtue  of  a  certain 
degree  of  connexion  with  Him.  But  they  are  not  susceptible  of 
such  a  connexion  as  may  be  properly  termed  conjunction  with 
Him ;  and  therefore  their  existence  terminates  with  their  bodily 
life,  and  they  are  not  capable  of  immortality.  Again:  Infernal 
spirits,  called  devils  and  the  powers  of  darkness,  though  they  live 
in  a  state  of  opposition  and  hatred  against  God  and  all  the  per- 
fections which  constitute  his  nature,  retain,  nevertheless,  such  a 
degree  of  connexion  with  Him,  which  they  cannot  destroy,  that 
they  continue  to  live,  and  that  to  eternity  ;  the  reason  is,  because 
they  were  created  with  a  capacity  of  attaining  that  connexion 
with  their  Maker  which  is  proper  to  rational  and  intelligent 
creatures,  and  which  we  have  termed  conjunction  :  thus  they  re- 
tain the  faculties,  proper  to  intelligent  creatures,  of  liberty  and 
rationality,  though  in  a  state  of  ruin  and  perversion  :  and,  in 
consequence  of  their  having  been  created  with  that  capacity,  and 
retaining  these  faculties,  they  retain  such  a  degree  of  connexion 
with  the  Divine  Source  of  life  as  to  live  eternally,  though  in  a 
state  of  evil  and  corresponding  misery.  Such  evil  spirits  do  all 
wicked  men  become  after  the  life  of  the  body.  But  although 
all  who  have  once  come  into  existence  as  men,  though  they  may 
pervert  the  design  of  their  creation  and  separate  themselves  from 
conjunction  with  their  Maker,  nevertheless  retain  such  a  degree 
of  connexion  with  Him  as  to  live  for  ever, — yet  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that,  if  all  were  to  do  so,  the  human  race  upon 
earth  would  perish.  There  would  be  no  longer  the  means  of 
bringing  life  from  the  Source  of  life  into  new  subjects  :  and  thus 
man  collectively,  understanding  by  that  term  human  beings  in 
the  natural  state  of  life,  would  drop  out  of  existence.  Should 


24 


LECTURE  II. 


man  on  earth  ever  become  so  divested  of  all  religion, — ever  so 
utterly  alienated  from  God,  and  opposed  to  him,  as  to  destroy  in 
himself  the  capacity  of  conjunction  with  God  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  be  incapable  of  communicating  it  to  his  posterity,  no  posterity? 
we  maybe  assured,  would  be  suffered  to  come  into  existence  :  the 
connexion  of  God  with  man  would  be  so  utterly  cut  off,  that  man 
communicating  no  longer  with  the  only  Source  of  life,  would  im- 
mediately fall  into  extinction.  Such  is  the  view  which  our 
religion  and  philosophy  lead  us  to  take  of  the  necessity  of  religion 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  connexion  between  man  and  his 
Maker.  Without  religion,  in  the  breast  of  man  individually, 
he  can  have  no  conjunction  with  his  Creator,  but  is  separated 
from  the  connexion  with  God  proper  to  him  as  a  rational  and 
immortal  existence  :  without  any  religion  in  the  breasts  of  any 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  that  generation  would  be  the 
last,  and,  after  their  removal  to  the  abodes  of  wretchedness 
eternal,  no  beings  calling  themselves  men  would  appear  upon 
earth,  to  disgrace  the  original  creation  of  the  species  in  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God,  and  to  perpetuate  a  race  of  mere 
rebels  against  their  Creator. 

If  this  be  the  true  view  of  this  momentous  subject,  (and  surely  it 
must  be  allowed  to  be  a  most  rational  one,)  how  immensely  im- 
portant must  religion  become  in  our  estimation !  If  the  com- 
plete extinction  of  religion  would  be  followed  by  the  extinction 
of  the  human  race,  with  what  care  should  the  sacred  preservative 
be  cherished  in  the  breast  of  man  !  He  who  becomes  neglectful 
of  religious  principle  or  feeling  in  himself,  or  promotes  the  dis- 
regard of  it  in  others,  contributes  his  quota, — does  as  much  as  it 
is  in  his  power  to  do, — towards  the  extirpation  of  the  whole 
family  of  mankind.  This  dreadful  and  total  catastrophe,  however, 
is  guarded  against,  by  the  continual  watchfulness  of  the  Divine 
Providence  of  the  Lord.  But  every  single  individual  is  left  at 
liberty,  by  the  neglect  or  rejection  of  religion,  to  break  that  con- 
nexion of  himself  with  the  Lord,  that  conjunction  with  his  Maker, 
which  is  properly  intended  for  him  as  a  man,  and  without  which 
the  true  nature  of  man  is  destroyed  in  him  ;  when  he  becomes,  in 
fact  a  more  horrible  monster  than  any  brute,  and  unavoidably 
sinks  into  endless  misery.    Such  is,  depend  upon  it,  my  brethren, 


NECESSITY  OF  KELIGION. 


25 


friends,  and  fellow-creatures,  the  inward  nature  and  character  of 
every  man  who  utterly  rejects  religion  from  his  heart.  Such,  at 
least,  our  doctrines  assure  us  is  the  case  :  how  deeply  then  must 
those  doctrines  excite,  in  all  who  receive  them,  a  dread  of  the  verjT 
thought  of  falling  into  such  a  state  !  Where  there  is  no  religion 
in  the  heart,  there  is  no  God  :  where  God  is  not,  there  is  hell : 
and  he  who  has  hell  in  his  bosom,  cannot  but  become,  after 
death,  one  of  its  inhabitants.  When  such  is  the  awful  state 
and  lot  of  those  who  are  destitute  of  religion,  and  who  have  thus 
broken  off  the  proper  connexion  between  themselves  and  God, 
how  truly  shocking  is  the  fact,  that  there  are  persons  in  this  pro- 
fessedly Christian  nation,  who  can  boast  of  having  expelled  the 
principle  from  their  minds,  and  who  labour,  with  a  truly  infernal 
assiduity,  to  effect  the  same  dreadful  consummation  in  others  ! 
They  endeavour  to  give  plausibility  to  their  conduct,  b}-  founding 
their  arguments  against  Christianity  solely  upon  the  corruptions 
which  men  have  introduced  into  it ;  while  their  arguments  against 
the  Scriptures  rest  altogether  upon  mistaken  apprehensions  of 
their  meaning.  In  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the 
corruptions  of  the  Christian  faith  are  removed,  and  the  right  un- 
derstanding of  the  Scriptures  is  communicated  ;  and  thus,  in 
those  doctrines,  all  ground  for  plausible  objection  is  taken  away 
against  either  :  most  ardently  then  should  it  be  desired,  and  is 
desired  by  many,  that  these  doctrines  should  be  generally  re- 
ceived. Then,  and  then  onby,  will  the  real  importance  to  man- 
kind of  religion  be  perceived,  and  the  strongest  of  inducements 
prevail  to  make  it  the  governing  principle  of  the  mind  and 
heart. 

That  such  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God,  respecting  the 
importance  and  necessity  of  religion,  need  scarcely  be  urged  upon 
any  who  give  full  credence  to  the  inspired  records  :  and  to  those 
who  do  not,  to  prove  that  such  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures, 
may  have  but  little  efficacy.  As,  however,  the  Scriptures  are 
in  reality  the  storehouse  of  all  Divine  Truth,  so  that  what  cannot 
be  proved  from  this  Source  is  of  little  worth  ;  and  as,  by  virtue  of 
their  Divine  Original,  they  have  a  power  of  affecting  even  the 
thoughtless,  when  they  give  their  attention  for  a  moment,  which 
no  other  documents  can  possess  ;  and  as,  further,  all  the  doctrines 


26 


LECTURE  II. 


which  we  are  to  deliver  in  these  Lectures,  whether  immediately 
addressed  to  the  professors  of  the  Christian  religion  or  not,  are  to 
be  deduced  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  bottomed  on  them  as 
their  everlasting  foundation  :  I  have  selected  as  a  text  for  this 
discourse  a  passage  of  divine  prophecy,  which  fully  teaches,  both 
according  to  its  literal  and  spiritual  sense,  the  doctrines  we  have 
advanced  ;  of  the  necessity  of  religion  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
connexion  between  man  and  his  Maker.  "  The  earth,"  says  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  "is  defiled  under  the  inhabitants  thereof;  be- 
cause they  have  transgressed  the  laws,  changed  the  ordinance, 
and  broken  the  everlasting  covenant.  Therefore  hath  the  curse 
devoured  the  earth,  and  they  that  dwell  therein  are  desolate  : 
therefore  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  are  burned,  and  few  men 
left."  Doubtless,  by  the  earth  here  spoken  of  is  meant,  most 
specifically,  the  land  of  Canaan,  by  the  inhabitants  thereof,  the 
Jews,  and  by  the  miseries  which  are  mentioned,  the  afflictions 
which  came  upon  that  land  and  people  through  the  invasions 
of  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians :  consequently,  the  laws  that 
they  had  transgressed,  and  the  ordinance  that  they  had  changed, 
are  the  laws  and  statutes  of  Moses  ;  and  the  everlasting  covenant 
is  the  engagement  made  by  God  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  and,  afterwards,  with  the  Israelites  their  descendants  at 
Mount  Sinai,  that,  upon  the  condition  of  obedience,  they  should 
be  his  people,  and  he  would  be  their  God,  and  would  bless  them, 
with  every  good.  In  consequence  of  their  utterly  breaking  this 
covenant,  they  themselves  were  visited  with  the  most  severe 
afflictions,  and  every  species  of  calamity  fell,  as  our  text  de- 
scribes, upon  the  very  land  itself.  Now,  what  thus  took  place 
with  the  people  of  Israel,  on  a  small  scale,  and  in  an  external 
but  typical  manner,  is  what  must  or  would  take  place  with  the 
whole  human  race,  upon  their  utterly  breaking  the  everlasting 
covenant,  in  an  internal  and  spiritual  manner,  and,  in  the  ex- 
treme case,  in  the  external  manner  also.  Though  the  covenant 
with  the  Israelites,  by  which  Canaan  was  promised  them  as  a 
continual  possession  on  condition  of  their  observing  the  Mosaic 
ritual,  is  the  covenant  immediately  referred  to,  yet  it  cannot  be 
all  that  is  here  meant ;  for  this,  as  relating  altogether  to  things 
temporal,  could  never,  with  strict  propriety,  be  called  an  ever- 


NECESSITY  OF  RELIGION. 


27 


lasting  covenant.  But  religion,  as  consisting  in  the  acknow- 
ledgment, love,  and  worship  of  the  Lord,  is  the  everlasting 
covenant,  established  by  the  very  laws  of  the  creation  of  man,  as 
a  rational  and  accountable  being,  between  him  and  his  Creator. 
This  is  a  covenant  which  is  universal  to  the  whole  human  race  ; 
for  all,  as  being  created  with  the  endowment  of  rationality,  are 
capable  of  knowing  and  serving  the  God  who  made  them ;  and 
in  order  to  their  retaining  or  enjoying  their  connexion  with  Him, 
such  as  it  was  intended  they  should  possess,  the  indefeasible  con- 
dition is,  that  they  should  render  Him  acknowledgment  and 
service.  Thus  they  are  connected  with  Him  by  a  real  conjunction 
of  life,  and,  in  consequence,  derive  eternal  blessedness  from 
Him  ;  which  is  what  He  engages  to  bestow  as  -his  part  of 
the  covenant.  The  effect  of  covenants,  also,  among  men,  is,  to 
unite  two  parties,  as  to  the  matter  covenanted  upon,  into  one. 
Certain  conditions  are  stipulated  on  both  sides,  upon  the  per- 
formance of  which  they  act  as  one  in  reference  to  a  certain 
object.  This  is  the  case  with  all  treaties  of  peace  and  alliance 
between  nations,  and  with  all  contracts  and  agreements  between 
individuals  :  by  virtue  of  such  treaties  and  contracts,  the  two 
parties  are  conjoined,  as  regards  a  certain  object,  into  one. 
Hence,  there  is  actually  inherent,  in  the  idea  of  a  covenant,  the 
idea  of  connexion  or  conjunction  also  :  and  thus,  in  the  spiritual 
sense  which  is  inwardly  contained  in  the  Word  of  God,  though 
perhaps  you  may  not  at  present  be  disposed  to  receive  it,  when  a 
covenant  between  God  and  man  is  mentioned,  his  conjunction 
with  his  creatures  is  signified.  The  consequences  of  the  breach  of 
this  conjunction,  as  described  in  our  text,  are,  that  the  very  earth 
or  land  is  defiled,  that  a  curse  devours  it,  that  they  who  dwell 
therein  are  desolate,  that  its  inhabitants  are  burned,  and  that  few 
men  are  left.  Though  all  this  literally  took  place  with  regard  to 
the  rebellious  Israelites,  it  also  is  descriptive,  in  a  typical  manner, 
of  what  must  take  place  with  all  mankind,  and  with  every  indi- 
vidual of  them,  on  the  entire  dissolution  of  his  or  their  proper 
connexion  and  conjunction  with  the  Lord.  They  cannot  but  be 
separated  from  all  spiritual  blessings,  and,  in  the  extreme  case, 
from  all  natural  ones  also  :  they  cannot  but  become  subject  to  the 
dreadful  misery,  described,  in  the  symbolic  language  of  Scripture, 


2S 


LECTURE  II. 


as  everlasting  burnings  ;  and  the  human  race  itself,  should  all 
become  such,  must  perish  from  the  earth. 

However,  it  is  not  my  intention  to  go  into  an  exact  explanation 
of  every  particular  of  our  text :  I  only  meant  to  show,  for  the  satis- 
faction of  those  who  have  any  reverence  for  the  Scripture,  that  the 
doctrine  we  have  advanced  is  the  doctrine  of  that  holy  record ;  that 
there  is  the  most  imperious  necessity  for  the  maintenance,  ac- 
cording to  the  order  intended  at  creation,  of  the  connexion  of 
God  with  man  ;  that,  without  this  connexion,  man  is  necessarily 
separated  from  all  capability  of  good  and  happiness,  is  subject, 
in  the  other  life,  to  endless  misery,  and  is  liable,  here,  to  total 
extinction  ; — that  even  the  extinction  of  the  whole  human  race 
must  follow  the  entire  and  universal  breach  of  that  connexion  ; 
and  that  religion,  as  consisting  in  the  observance  of  the  divine 
laws  and  ordinances,  which  enjoin  the'  acknowledgment,  love, 
and  worship  of  God,  is  the  only  medium  of  maintaining  that 
conjunction.  Most  true  is  the  declaration  of  our  blessed  Saviour, 
"Without  me,  ye  can  do  nothing:"  And  again,  "Abide  in  me, 
and  I  in  you :  As  the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself  except  it 
abide  in  the  vine,  no  more  can  ye  except  ye  abide  in  me." 
These  are  plain  declarations  of  the  necessity  of  man's  maintain- 
ing the  connexion  of  conjunction  with  the  Lord,  in  order  to  his 
being  the  subject  of  life  and  good  from  Him.  If  the  dependance 
of  man,  to  be  in  his  proper  order,  on  his  God,  is  like  that  of 
branches  on  the  vine,  most  obviously,  separated  from  Him,  he 
becomes  a  mere  nothing,  or  worse  :  he  is  cast  off,  as  is  said 
on  the  same  occasion,  like  a  deciduous  branch,  and  is  withered. 
As  sap  from  the  trunk  is  necessary  to  the  living  existence  of  the 
branch,  so  is  spiritual  life  from  the  Lord  necessary  to  the  proper 
existence  of  man.  As  these  are  the  statements  of  Scripture,  so 
may  any  one  easily  discern  that  they  are  also  the  dictates  of 
reason.  Admit  the  existence  of  a  God,  the  Only  Fountain  of 
life  and  of  all  good,  and  it  immediately  follows,  that,  in  order  to 
man's  enjoyment  of  life  and  good,  he  must  be  maintained  in  con- 
nexion with  their  Divine  Source. 

But  whether  this  depends  upon  bis  cherishing  the  principle  of 
religion,  as  consisting  in  the  knowledge,  love  and  worship  of  his 
Maker,  may  not  yet,  perhaps,  be  thought  sufficiently  established  : 


NECESSITY  OF  RELIGION. 


29 


wherefore,  upon  this  part  of  the  subject  before  concluding,  we 
will  offer  some  brief  observations. 

It  is  very  common  with  those  who  hold  deistical  opinions,  and 
even  with  some  who  regard  themselves  as  Christians,  to  imagine, 
that  the  Deity  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  bestow  upon  man  his 
gifts,  while  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  for  man  even  to  reflect  upon 
and  acknowledge  them,  much  less  to  think  of  making  any  return. 
"What  return,"  they  ask,  "can  a  frail  and  utterly  dependant 
creature  make  to  Him  from  whom  he  derives  all  that  he  is  or 
has  '?  How  can  a  finite  being  give  anything  to  an  Infinite  One  ? 
or  how  can  anything  that  a  finite  being  can  do  or  say  add  any 
thing  to  Infinite  Glory  and  Perfection  ?"  These  are  specious 
common-places,  but  they  are  utterly  beside  the  present  question. 
Man,  certainly,  can  bestow  nothing  upon  Him  from  whom  he  re- 
ceives all,  and  nothing  that  he  can  do  or  say  can  form  any 
addition  to  Infinity ;  but  in  order  to  man's  receiving,  himself,  his 
most  distinguishing  excellences  as  a  man,  he  must  acknowledge, 
with  gratitude  and  love,  the  Source  from  whence  he  derives  them, 
and  return  them  to  his  God  in  humility  and  adoration.  The 
brutes,  indeed,  many  of  which  possess  very  admirable  qualities, 
derive  them  all  from  the  same  Omnipotent  Source  ;  and  they 
receive  them  without  any  knowledge,  and  of  course  without  any 
love  and  worship,  of  the  Hand  from  which  they  come  ;  but,  for 
this  very  reason,  they  possess  no  moral  qualities,  and  no  rational 
mind.  If  they  are  gentle,  they  are  so  by  the  constitution  of 
their  nature,  and  cannot  be  otherwise.  They  have  no  capacity  of 
distinguishing  between  good  and  evil,  and  of  choosing  the  one 
and  rejecting  the  other.  Hence,  their  gentleness  is  not  virtue, 
and  their  ferocity  is  not  vice  ;  and,  in  the  same  manner,  their 
instincts,  though  often  very  extraordinary  and  admirable,  do  not 
partake  of  the  nature  of  reason.  In  one  word,  they  have  no 
human  qualities.  Human  qualities  cannot  exist  except  in  a 
being  who  is  both  a  rational  and  a  moral  agent :  and,  there- 
fore, the  possession  of  their  various  good  qualities  by  brutes, 
independently  of  any  knowledge  and  worship  of  the  Being  from 
whom  they  derive  them,  affords  no  proof  that  man  might 
possess  his  proper  excellences  as  man,  independently  of  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  God  who  bestows  them  upon  him. 


30 


LECTURE  II. 


Men,  indeed,  are  to  be  met  with  in  society,  who,  though  they 
have  heard  of  God,  refuse  to  worship  him,  and  even  deny 
his  existence :  and  such  men  often  possess  the  rational  fa- 
culty, so  far  as  that  consists  in  a  mere  capacity  of  reasoning, 
as  perfectly  as  others,  though  not  as  it  consists  in  a  capacity  of 
seeing  truth  by  its  own  inherent  light :  but,  whatever  amiability 
of  temper  some  of  these  may  possess  from  natural  constitution, 
it  will  invariably  be  found  that  self-love,  how  cautiously  soever 
concealed,  is  their  governing  motive,  and  self-conceit,  or  the  pride 
of  their  own  understandings,  the  guide  of  their  thoughts:  and  it 
is  not  often  that  these  will  be  found  unaccompanied  even  with 
the  grosser  vices.  No  virtue  can  be  genuine,  and  free  from  the 
contamination  of  self  regards,  but  that  which  derives  its  imme- 
diate fountain  from  the  Source  of  all  virtues  ;  and  nothing  can 
come  thus  immediately  from  the  Lord,  which  is  not  accompanied 
with  acknowledgment  of  Him,  with  the  ascription  of  all  good  to 
Him,  and  with  the  grateful  worship  of  his  Holy  Name.  To  think 
of  man's  possessing  genuine  moral  excellences,  the  proper  virtues 
of  humanity,  without  deriving  them  from  the  Source  of  all  excel- 
lence, is  an  absolute  contradiction  :  and  to  suppose  that  he  who 
thus  possesses  them  by  gift,  will  not  acknowledge,  venerate,  and 
worship,  the  Almighty  Giver,  is  to  add  one  contradiction  to 
another.  Man,  also,  is  created  with  a  capacity  for  improvement 
in  virtue,  and  in  all  good  and  excellence,  without  end.  But  what 
is  improvement  in  virtue  and  goodness,  but  the  reception  of  them, 
in  greater  and  greater  fulness,  from  their  Divine  Original?  And 
how  can  they  be  thus  received,  without  acknowledgment  of  that 
Great  Original,  his  nature  and  attributes,  a  love  for  the  divine 
perfections  which  are  infinite  in  Him,  and  the  devout  adoration 
of  Him,  as  that  suitable  attitude  of  the  soul,  of  which  the 
outward  forms  of  adoration  are  the  signs  and  effects,  and  without 
which  the  graces  He  delights  to  bestow  cannot  find  a  place  for 
their  reception?  Where  there  is  no  worship  of  the  Lord,  pride, 
which  is  the  worship  of  self,  takes  its  place :  and  where  self  is 
the  idol  we  adore,  and  pride  the  worship  we  pay  it,  no  graces 
flowing  from  the  Lord,  and  which  can  only  spring  up,  and  bear 
fruit,  in  the  soil  of  humility  and  of  the  acknowledgment  of  Him, 
can  find  room  to  drop  their  seeds  in  the  bosom. 


NECESSITY  OF  RELIGION. 


31 


O  my  brethren,  let  me  say  to  you  in  conclusion,  be  careful 
ever  to  cherish  in  your  breast  the  sacred  principle  of  religion. 
Religion  is  the  Palladium  in  the  temple  of  human  excellences. 
Where  this  is,  they  flourish  in  safety  ;  where  this  is  not,  a  spu- 
rious brood,  resulting  from  a  mere  attention  to  character  and 
the  forms  of  society,  will  speedily  usurp  their  place  :  and  from 
the  faces  of  many  of  these  the  mask  will  from  time  to  time  drop 
off,  and  discover,  in  lieu  of  a  seeming  virtue,  a  hideous  and  de- 
structive vice.  Without  real  virtues, — the  very  graces  of  heaven, 
a  man  is  not  really  a  man.  In  proportion  to  the  accuracy  and 
extent  of  his  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  will  be  his  opportunities  of 
receiving  genuine  virtues  from  him  :  in  proportion  to  his  love  of 
the  Lord,  as  to  the  perfections  which  constitute  his  nature,  will 
be  his  actual  reception  of  those  virtues  and  perfections :  and  in 
proportion  as  these  exist  in  his  bosom,  will  he  spontaneously 
engage  in  the  sincere  worship  of  the  Lord  ;  which  will  be,  again, 
the  medium  of  his  receiving,  in  continually  extending  abundance, 
an  increase  of  every  grace  that  can  exalt  to  its  true  standard  the 
proper  character  of  man.  Thus  will  the  true  connexion  or  con- 
junction between  man  and  his  Maker  be  permanently  re-estab- 
lished, and  he  will  enjoy  its  fruit  in  blessedness  everlasting. 


LECTURE  III. 


THE  ESSENTIAL  NATURE  OF  THE  DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP, 
WHO  IS  LOVE  ITSELF  AND  WISDOM  ITSELF,  OR  GOODNESS 
ITSELF  AND  TRUTH  ITSELF  ;  AND  THE  NECESSITY  OF  THE 
RECEPTION  OF  THOSE  HOLY  PRINCIPLES  BY  MAN,  IN  ORDER 
TO  HIS  SALVATION. 


Ps.  lxxxix.  14,  15. 

11  Justice  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  thy  throne;  mercy 
and  truth  shall  go  before  thy  face.  Blessed  is  the  people  that  know 
the  joyful  sound :  they  shall  walk,  O  Lord,  in  the  light  of  thy 
countenance." 

Proposing  to  deliver  some  Lectures  on  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant articles  of  the  True  Christian  religion,  as  presented  in  the 
doctrines  which  we  believe  to  be  those  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
Dispensation  of  it,  I  addressed  you,  in  our  last  upon  the  Ne- 
cessity of  Religion,  as  consisting  in  the  knowledge,  love,  and  wor- 
ship of  the  Lord,  for  maintaining  the  connexion  between  man 
and  his  Maker :  and  I  observed,  that  the  nearness  of  the  con- 
nexion between  man  and  his  Maker  will  be  in  proportion  to  the 
purity  of  his  religion,  and  thus  in  proportion  to  the  truth  of  his 
knowledge  of  the  Lord,  the  ardour  of  his  love  for  Him,  and  the 
sincerity  of  his  worship  of  Him.  The  first  position  being  ad- 
mitted, or  proved,  as  I  trust,  was  satisfactorily  done  in  that  Dis- 
course, the  other  follows  by  such  necessary  inference,  that  I  did 
not  then,  nor  shall  I  now,  undertake  the  superfluous  labour  of 
establishing  it  by  argument.  Every  one  who  admits  that  religion 
is  necessary  to  maintain  the  connexion  between  man  and  his 
Maker,  will  admit,  also,  that  the  nearness  of  that  connexion 
will  be  in  proportion  to  the  purity  of  the  religion,  and  thus  in 
proportion  to  the  truth  of  man's  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  the 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP. 


83 


genuineness  of  his  love  for  Him,  and  the  sincerity  with  which  he 
adores  Him. 

Now  this  obvious  truth  is  related  to  another  not  less  clear 
and  important.  In  regard  to  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from 
religion,  much,  we  see,  depends  upon  its  quality  and  character. 
But  will  not  the  quality  and  character  of  a  man's  religion 
very  greatly  depend  upon  the  idea  which  he  possesses,  or  which 
his  religion  teaches  him,  of  the  God  who  is  the  object  of  his 
veneration?  It  is  the  nature  of  all  religion,  so  far  as  it  is  sin- 
cerely cherished,  to  assimilate  the  character  of  the  worshipper  to 
that  of  the  Being  whom  he  worships.  Man  was  originally  created 
in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God.  So  far  as  his  true  connexion 
with  God  is  retained  or  restored,  he  still  partakes  of  that  image 
and  likeness :  and  this  connexion  is  only  maintained  by  religion. 
Thus,  if  true  religion,  which  includes  a  just  idea  of  God,  tends 
to  produce  in  man  the  image  and  likeness  of  the  true  God,  most 
certainly  any  religion,  provided  it  is  assiduously  cultivated,  will 
tend  to  produce  in  man  the  image  of  the  God  who  is  presented 
for  adoration  by  that  religion.  What  impressed  on  the  celebrated 
Reformer,  Calvin,  the  severity  and  harshness  of  character  which 
his  greatest  admirers  must  allow  that  he  possessed,  and  which  is 
acknowledged  even  by  his  great  friend  and  panegyrist,  Beza,  but 
the  harsh  and  cruel  idea  which  he  had  formed  of  God  ?  Or,  if 
we  reverse  the  position,  and  conclude  that  Calvin  drew  his  por- 
trait of  God,  in  this  respect,  from  himself,  and  pictured  Him  as 
a  relentless  and  cruel  Being  because  his  own  natural  disposition 
was  of  such  a  complexion,  still,  did  not  his  idea  of  God,  when 
even  thus  formed,  re-act  upon  himself,  encourage  him  to  carry 
out  the  dictates  of  his  own  severe  nature,  and  justify  him  to  him- 
self in  persecuting  all  who  differed  from  him  in  opinion,  under 
the  persuasion  that  he  was  "doing  God  service  *?"  How  impor- 
tant then  it  is,  in  order  that  religion  may  produce  in  us  the 
excellent  effects  for  which  it  was  instituted,  that  it  should  be  a 
religion  which  imparts  to  us  just  conceptions  of  the  nature  or 
character  of  God.  What  we  believe  God  to  be,  we  must  aim,  if 
we  have  any  religion  in  us,  at  becoming,  as  far  as  our  finite  and 
imperfect  nature  will  permit,  ourselves.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
expressly  commands  us  to  follow  Him,  to  make  his  example  ours : 
3 


34 


LECTURE  III. 


and  according  to  the  ideas  we  form  of  his  character,  if  we  regard 
Him  as  our  God,  or  of  the  character  of  the  God,  whoever  he  may  be, 
whom  we  really  regard  as  such,  will  infallibly,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  be  modelled  our  own.  God  is  the  centre  of  all  religion, 
and,  to  him  who  has  religion,  is  the  centre  of  his  soul :  such  then 
as  is  the  quality  of  that  object  which  is  in  the  centre  of  the  soul, 
will  the  quality  of  the  whole  man  become.  Nothing  therefore  can 
be  more  important  to  a  rational  and  immortal  creature, — to  a 
being  capable  of  God, — than  to  have  just  ideas  of  the  nature  of  that 
Being  who  is  to  be  the  centre  and  object  of  his  inmost  thoughts 
and  affections :  and  that  religion  must  be  the  most  capable  of 
answering  the  end  for  which  all  religion  is  designed,  of  main- 
taining the  proper  connexion  between  man  and  God,  and  pro- 
ducing in  man  his  true  image  and  likeness,  which  affords  the  most 
just  conceptions  of  the  essential  nature  and  real  perfections  of 
the  adorable  Being  who  is  the  Author  of  our  existence,  and  from 
whom  alone  we  can  derive  the  qualities  which  are  to  be  the 
foundation  of  our  everlasting  happiness. 

This  great  subject,  then, — being  that  which  occupies  the  first 
place  in  the  whole  circle  of  theological  truths — is  that  on  which 
it  is  proposed  to  treat  in  the  present  Lecture.  We  will  con- 
template the  Essential  Nature  of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship, 
who  is  Love  itself  and  Wisdom  itself,  or  Goodness  itself  and  Truth 
itself:  and  the  Necessity  of  the  Reception  of  those  Principles  by 
Man,  in  order  to  his  Salvation.  And  as  the  views  I  am  to  lay 
before  you  on  this  momentous  subject  are  those  which  we  receive 
as  the  doctrines  of  the  True  Christian  Church  prefigured  under 
the  image  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  , you  will  judge  how  far  those 
doctrines,  on  the  most  essential  point  of  all  religion,  are  worthy 
to  be  accepted  as  such.  Let  us  enter  on  the  inquiry  with  the 
solemnity  of  feeling,  the  devotional  reverence,  which  such  a  sub- 
ject demands  !  May  He  who  created  us,  and  whom,  therefore, 
we  ought  all  to  love  and  serve,  enable  me  so  to  speak,  and  you  so 
to  hear,  that  just  views  of  his  Essential  Nature, — an  apprehension 
of  Him,  in  some  measure,  as  He  really  is, — may  be  opened  and 
established  in  all  our  minds,  and  may  exercise  upon  us  the  due 
influence  of  such  just  views  and  apprehension,  in  assimilating  us 
unto  his  image  and  likeness  ! 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECTjoF^WORSHIP.  35 

"  What  is  God  ?"  This  is  a  "question  the  most  concerning 
that  can  be  asked  by  a  being,  who,  like  man,  and  all  finite  exist- 
ences, is  the  creature  of  his  will,  who  is  gifted  by  Him  with  an  . 
immortal  nature,  and  who  depends  wholly  upon  Him  for  all  which 
can  make  that  immortality  a  valuable  endowment.  And  no 
satisfactory  answer  whatever  could  be  given  to  the  inquiry,  had 
not  God  revealed  himself,  to  us,  in  his  written  Word,  and,  in  the 
primeval  ages,  by  other  revelations,  from  which,  however  disguised 
and  perverted,  some  traditional  knowledge  of  Him  is  current 
throughout  the  earth.  Yet  his  Word,  also,  in  many  instances, 
is  expressed  according  to  human  apprehensions,  and  sometimes 
describes  the  nature  of  the  Creator,  rather  according  to  what  He 
appears  to  man  to  be,  in  certain  states  of  man's  perception,  than 
to  what  He  actually  is  in  Himself,  or  in  his  own  essential  nature  ; 
and  hence  men,  even  with  the  Word  of  God  in  their  hands,  and 
professing  to  go  to  it  for  instruction,  have  sometimes  formed  very 
low  and  degrading  conceptions  respecting  the  Author  of  their 
being.  But  though  the  Holy  Word  sometimes  speaks  of  the 
Lord  according  to  the  apprehensions  of  men,  and  in  a  manner 
adapted  to  make  a  more  useful  impression  upon  men  of  gross  and 
carnal  minds,  provided  they  actually  believe  what  is  told  them,  than 
would  be  the  result  of  conveying  to  such  minds,  the  pure  truth 
itself,  which  they  would  pervert  and  abuse, — it  at  the  same  time 
contains  abundance  of  passages  which  place  the  truth  itself,  on  this 
divine  subject,  immediately  before  the  mind  of  the  reader.  I 
propose  then  to  show,  in  the  first  place,  That  the  Essential  Nature 
of  the  Lord  is,  as  affirmed  in  the  proposition  before  recited, 
Love  itself  and  Wisdom  itself ,  or  Goodness  itself  and  Truth  itself; 
or  that  those  holy  Principles  constitute  His  Essence.  This  I  shall 
confirm  from  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  and  from  the  nature  of 
man.  In  the  second  place,  I  will  endeavour  to  establish,  That 
no  attributes  inconsistent  with  these  great  Essentials  of  Love  and 
Wisdom  in  any  degree  enter  into  the  Divine  Nature;  conse- 
quently, that  God  is  incapable  of  any  feeling  like  that  of  Anger  or 
Wrath  ;  and  that  the  attributing  of  such  Passions  to  God.  greatly 
obscures  Man's  apprehensions  respecting  Him;  and  darkens  the 
System  of  Theology  in  which  it  is  admitted.  And  I  will  conclude 
with  some  observations  tending  to  guard  this  grand  subject  from 


36 


LECTURE  III. 


perversion,  and  to  evince,  That  although  God,  in  his  Essence,  is 
■pure  and  infinite  Love  and  Wisdom,  and  nothing  else,  and  thus  is 
incapable  of  feeling  the  Passion  of  Anger  even  against  his  most 
obdurate  Enemies,  this  affords  no  encouragement  to  the  Sinner  to 
persevere  in  his  evil  courses  ;  since  no  one  can  be  saved,  and  en- 
joy that  felicity  which  the  Divine  Love  is  ever  desirous  to  impart, 
except  by  the  reception,  from  the  Lord,  of  the  saving  graces  of 
love  and  wisdom  in  his  own  heart  and  mind,  and  his  being 
assimilated  thereby  to  the  Divine  image  and  likeness. 

The  Scriptures,  being  written,  though  by  divine  inspiration, 
by  men  of  ordinary  human  feelings  and  perceptions,  and  in- 
tended to  accommodate  divine  things  to  the  apprehension  of 
even  the  most  carnal  of  mankind,  never  treat  of  God  in  the  style 
which  philosophers  would  have  chosen,  by  referring  to  abstract 
principles  ;  and  thus,  in,  very  few  instances  indeed,  do  they  speak 
of  his  abstract  nature.  They  speak,  in  general,  of  what  He 
does,  and  of  what  He  loves  and  requires  in  his  people,  rather 
than  of  what  He  is  in  Himself.  But  a  most  clear  and  direct 
inference  to  what  He  is  in  Himself  is  hereby  afforded  :  for  what 
does  he  require  of  man,  as  declared  by  himself  through  his 
prophet  Micah,  "  but  to  do  justice,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk 
humbly  with  his  God  ?"  An  Apostle,  indeed,  even  that  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved,  and  whose  own  excellent  graces  best  qualified 
him  to  perceive  and  appreciate  the  essential  qualities  and  attri- 
butes of  the  divine  nature  expressly  assures  us  that  "  God  is  love :" 
a  declaration  which  he  twice  repeats  in  the  course  of  a  few  verses. 
"  Beloved,"  saith  he,  [John  iv.  7,  8,]  "  let  us  love  one  another  : 
for  love  is  of  God  :  and  every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God, 
and  knoweth  God.  He  that  loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God  :  for 
God  is  love."  Again,  he  saith,  in  the  same  decided  manner 
[ver.  16,]  "  God  is  love  :  and  he  that  dwelleth  in  love,  dwelleth  in 
God,  and  God  in  him."  These  two  declarations  of  an  Apostle, 
in  which  he  may  be  considered  as  collecting  into  one  doctrinal 
statement  the  substance  of  all  the  enunciations  of  Scripture  upon 
the  subject,  may  surely  be  considered  as  decisive  of  the  question. 
If  the  disciple  whom,  for  his  excellent  graces,  Jesus  is  em- 
phatically said  to  have  loved,  knew  any  thing  of  the  nature 
of  his  Divine  Master,  we  may  rely  upon  it  that  love  is  the  first 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECT   OF  WORSHIP. 


37 


constituent  of  Deity  ;  that,  when  it  is  proposed  to  define  the 
Divine  Being,  or  his  Essential  Nature,  in  the  most  brief  and 
comprehensive  manner,  it  can  only  be  done  by  saying,  "  God  is 
love."  Love  Itself,  which  is  Love  Infinite,  and  admitting  no 
mixture  of  any  heterogeneous  principle  or  impulse,  is  the  very 
first  essential  of  the  Divine  Nature,  comprehending  all  the 
others  :  so  that,  to  describe  God  in  a  summary  manner,  no  more 
than  three  words  are  requisite  :  it  is  only  necessary  to  say,  with 
the  Apostle  John,  God  is  love. 

This  then,  as  already  intimated,  is  the  most  express  statement 
v/hich  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bible  of  the  Essential  Nature  of 
Deity  :  but,  as  was  likewise  intimated,  it  is  a  doctrinal  summary 
of  the  contents  of  the  whole  of  the  Scriptures.  Although  the 
same  express  declaration  does  not  occur,  for  instance,  in  the 
Gospels,  in  so  many  words,  there  are  plenty  of  statements  in 
them  which  amount  to  the  same  thing.  Thus,  when  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  gives  that  exquisite  injunction  of  divine  tenderness. 
"  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you ;  do  good  to 
them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use 
you  and  persecute  you  ;"  when  He  subjoins,  as  a  reason  for  this 
injunction,  "  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father  who  is 
in  heaven  ;"  and  when  he  again  explains  this  by  adding,  "for He 
maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth 
rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust what  does  he  teach  in  all 
these  moving  exhortations  and  statements,  but  that  God  is  love  ; 
and  therefore  that,  to  be  His  children,  love,  as  the  reigning  and 
moving  principle  of  our  conduct,  is  to  be  cultivated  by  us?  If 
we,  in  order  to  our  being  the  children  of  God,  are  to  cherish 
love  without  restriction,  even  towards  our  enemies  and  persecu- 
tors ;  and  if  God  Himself,  in  like  manner  dispenses  the  bounties 
of  His  love  towards  all,  towards  the  evil  as  well  as  towards  the 
good,  evincing  that,  in  his  own  breast,  He  cherishes  angry 
feelings  towards  none,  but  extends  His  love  to  every  human 
being  alike  :  well  was  the  apostle  justified  in  affirming  love  to  be 
the  first  principle  of  His  Nature,  and  considering  all  other 
•divine  attributes  to  look  to  this  as  the  chief,  in  declaring,  that 
God  is  love. 

What  is  thus  the  testimony,  respecting  the  Essential  Nature 


OS 


LECTURE  III. 


of  God,  of  His  Word  in  the  New  Testament,  is  not  less  the  tes- 
timony of  His  Word  in  the  Old  Testament.  When  He  pro- 
claimed his  Divine  Name  or  Nature  before  Moses,  in  terms 
which  are  several  times  repeated  in  the  other  writings  of  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  it  was  by  a  periphrasis,  describing  his  attri- 
bute and  nature  of  Love,  that  he  was  pleased  to  give  the  deline- 
ation :  "  The  Lord,"  we  read,  [Ex.  xxxiv.  6,  7,]  "  passed  by  be- 
fore him,  and  proclaimed,  The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and 
gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth ; 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands  (or,  to  the  thousandth  generation), 
forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin."  This,  surely,  is  a 
description  of  a  Being,  and  can  only  be  justly  a  pplied  to  a  Being, 
whose  Essential  Nature  is  Love.  And  when  it  is  added,  as  given 
in  our  translation,  "  And  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty," 
this,  as  is  now  agreed  by  the  learned,  is  not  the  proper  meaning 
of  the  original,  which  only  carries  on  the  same  gracious  senti- 
ments as  Have  before  been  expressed  ;  the  proper  meaning  of  the 
original  being,  that  He  does  not  utterly  destroy,  or  punish  to  the 
last  extremity,  even  the  guilty.  Thus  far,  then,  this  announce- 
ment, by  Jehovah  Himself,  of  His  character  and  nature,  is  only 
an  amplification  of  the  concise  statement  of  the  Apostle,  God  is 
love.  Nor  does  the  clause  with  which  it  concludes,  when  the 
real  purport  of  such  statements  of  Scripture  is  understood,  at  all 
diminish  the  love  and  goodness  which  the  former  clauses  express. 
That  clause  is,  "  Visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children,  and  upon  the  children's  children,  unto  the  third  and  to 
the  fourth  generation :"  for,  rightly  understood,  this  does  not 
mean  that  there  is  any  thing  of  angry  feeling,  still  less  of  arbi- 
trary vengeance,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Lord,  but  is  a  statement 
of  consequences  which  are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  evil  itself. 

Clear  enough  then,  it  appears  to  be,  that  whenever  the  Scrip- 
true  treats  expressly  on  the  nature  of  God,  it  teaches  that  He  is 
Love.  But,  according  to  our  proposition,  God  is  not  only  Love 
Itself,  but  Wisdom  Itself  likewise  :  and  testimonies  which  we 
have  adduced  to  His  being  Essential  Love,  by  no  means  exclude 
His  being  Essential  Wisdom  also.  Wisdom,  in  fact,  proceeds 
from  Love,  as  light  proceeds  from  fire  :  and  where  pure  love  is, 
there  pure  wisdom  must  be  also.    Love  designs,  intends,  and 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  39 

prompts,  being  a  principle  most  essentially  active  ;  but  in  order 
to  its  going  forth  into  act,  and  producing  the  effects  to  which  its 
beneficent  nature  tends,  it  must  find  the  means  in  another 
principle,  distinct  from  itself,  yet  essential  to  its  existence  :  and 
this  can  be  nothing  but  wisdom.  Wisdom  must  plan,  arrange, 
and  produce,  what  love  desires,  proposes,  and  impels  to.  Without 
love  to  prompt  and  wisdom  to  direct,  there  could  have  been  no 
creation  :  and  it  was  under  an  impulse  of  divine  wisdom,  and  by 
illumination  thence,  that  the  Psalmist  was  led  to  exclaim,  "O 
Lord,  how  wonderful  are  thy  works !  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made 
them  all :"  an  exclamation,  in  which  none  who  contemplate  the 
divine  works  of  creation,  with  any  sort  of  apprehension  of  their 
order  and  nature,  and  with  any  acknowledgment  of  the  Hand 
that  made  them,  can  refrain  from  joining.  In  the  New  Testament, 
the  Divine  Wisdom  is  sometimes  called  the  Word,  and  sometimes 
the  Light,  and  the  Truth  ;  and  respecting  the  Word,  John  opens 
his  Gospel  with  saying,  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The  same  was 
in  the  beginning  with  God.  All  things  were  made  by  Him,  and 
without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made."  It  is,  as 
just  remarked,  as  to  that  Essential  of  His  Nature  called  Divine 
Wisdom,  that  the  Lord  is  denominated  the  Word  ;  and,  most 
certainly,  it  was  by  the  Divine  Wisdom,  impelled  and  inspired 
by  the  Divine  Love,  that  all  things  were  made,  and  the  universe 
was  called  into  existence.  "By  the  Word  of  the  Lord  were 
the  heavens  made,  and  all  the  hosts  of  them  by  the  breath  of  his 
mouth." 

But  while  the  Scriptures  so  clearly  speak  of  the  Essential 
Nature  of  God  as  being  Infinite  Love,  and  mention,  in  other 
passages,  Wisdom  as  being  another  Essential  of  his  Nature,  and 
without  which  his  Love  must  have  remained  inoperative,  and  He 
never  could  have  assumed  the  character  of  a  Creator  ;  there  are 
also  whole  classes  of  passages  which  advert  to  these  two  Essen- 
tials of  the  Divine  Nature  in  union.  In  the  prophetic  writings 
of  the  Old  Testament,  frequent  mention  is  made  of  the  Lord's 
"mercy  and  truth;"  and  also  to  Him  are  repeatedly  ascribed, 
in  union,  "justice  and  judgment ;"  and  in  each  of  these  cases, 
mercy  and  justice  are  terms  or  qualities  belonging  to,  and  ex- 


40  LECTURE  III. 

pressing,  the  Lord's  Divine  Love  and  Goodness ;  and  truth  and 
judgment  are  terms  and  qualities  belonging  to,  and  expressing, 
his  Divine  Wisdom  and  Truth.  An  example  of  both  occurs  in 
our  text.  The  inspired  Psalmist,  glorifying  the  Lord,  exclaims, 
"Justice  and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  thy  throne ;  mercy 
and  truth  shall  go  before  thy  face."  And,  referring  to  the  hap- 
piness of  knowing  that  these  are  the  chief  essentials  of  the  divine 
nature,  and  of  receiving  the  communications  of  them  to  form 
the  life  of  the  soul,  the  sacred  penman  adds,  "  Blessed  is  the 
people  that  know  the  joyful  sound :  they  shall  walk,  O  Lord,  in 
the  light  of  thy  countenance."  That  mercy  is  a  name,  form,  and 
attribute  of  love,  must  be  plain  to  every  one  ;  mercy  is  love, 
exercised  to  those  who  are  helpless  and  miserable ;  as,  in  them- 
selves, must  be  all  the  objects  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Love.  As 
He  can  have  no  objects  for  his  love  but  his  own  creatures,  and 
these  must  necessarily  be  all  infinitely  beneath  Him,  and  desti- 
tute of  every  good  and  comfort  but  what  they  receive  from  Him  ; 
his  love  to  them  must,  in  all  cases,  be  the  purest  mercy  :  but  most 
obviously  is  this  the  case,  when  He  showers  his  benefits  upon 
man  in  his  state  of  opposition,  rebellion,  and  sinfulness.  Mercy 
and  truth,  then,  are  obviously  expressive  of  love  or  goodness  and 
truth :  and  these  are  very  frequently  ascribed  to  the  Lord.  To 
instance  in  the  Psalms  alone  :  we  there  read,  "  The  paths  of  the 
Lord  are  mercy  and  truth  ;" — "God  shall  send  forth  his  mercy 
and  his  truth :"  "O  prepare  mercy  and  Truth,  which  may  pre- 
serve him  :"  "  Mercy  and  truth  are  met  together:"  "Thou  art 
plenteous  in  mercy  and  truth  :"  "  Mercy  and  truth  shall  go 
before  thy  face  :"  "  He  hath  remembered  his  mercy  and  his  truth." 

In  the  same  manner,  many  passages  might  be  collected  which 
ascribe  to  God  "justice  and  judgment,"  or,  as  the  same  original 
word  is  very  frequently  translated  in  the  English  Bible,  "  Right- 
eousness and  judgment ;"  as  when  it  is  said  in  our  text,  "  Justice 
and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  thy  throne."  Justice,  in  the 
language  of  Scripture,  is  so  completely  synonymous  with  right- 
eousness, that,  as  just  noticed,  the  original  word  is  quite  as  often 
rendered  by  our  translators  righteousness  as  justice.  Now 
righteousness  is  obviously  the  attribute  of  goodness  ;  as  is  judg- 
ment the  exercise  and  decision  of  truth.    The  constant  ascrip- 


THE   DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP. 


41 


tion,  therefore,  of  justice  or  righteousness,  and  judgment,  to  the 
Lord,  is  equivalent  to  a  declaration,  that  his  Nature  is  essentially 
Goodness  and  Truth. 

We  have  made  Love  nearly  synonymous  with  goodness,  and 
wisdom  with  truth,  in  saying  that  God  is,  as  to  his  Essential 
Nature,  Love  itself  and  Wisdom  itself,  or  Goodness  itself  and 
Truth  itself :  because  Love  and  Goodness,  as  also  Wisdom  and 
Truth,  are  so  united  as  to  be  inseparable,  though  they  are  not 
precisely  the  same  things.  All  that  proceeds  from  love  is  good  : 
and  the  will  to  produce  or  do  good  is  only  prompted  by  love.  If 
God,  therefore,  is  pure  Goodness,  He  must  also  be  pure  Love  : 
if  He  is  pure  Love,  He  must  also  be  pure  Goodness.  So,  wisdom 
is  inseparable  from  truth  :  it  consists  in  the  knowledge,  arrange- 
ment, and  the  right  use,  of  truths  :  If  God  therefore  is  pure  Wis- 
dom, he  must  also  be  pure  Truth :  and  if  he  is  pure  Truth,  he 
must  also  be  pure  Wisdom. 

Scripture,  then,  evidently  presents  to  us  Love  and  Wisdom,  or 
Goodness  and  Truth,  as  the  two  most  essential  constituents  of 
the  Divine  Nature  :  and  the  same  is  obvious  from  the  proper 
nature  of  man.  Man,  the  Scripture  informs  us,  was  created  in 
the  image  and  likeness  of  God :  and  our  finite  capacities  can 
have  no  better  mode  of  conceiving  what  God  is.  Let  us  think  of 
all  that  is  excellent  in  the  capacities  or  faculties  of  man,  of  all 
that  is  excellent  in  the  constituents  of  his  nature  :  let  us  separate 
this  from  all  that  is  corrupt,  debased,  disorderly,  weak,  and  im- 
pure ;  and  let  us  add  to  it  the  idea  of  infinity  :  and  we  have  the 
best  idea  a  finite  creature  can  conceive  of  God.  Let  us  conceive 
what  is  proper  to  man  as  an  image  and  likeness  of  God,  and 
then  pass  from  the  copy  to  the  original,  adding  the  ideas  of  In- 
finity and  Self-existence:  and  this  conception  of  Him,  making 
allowance  for  our  weakness,  will  be  the  best  to  which  our  facul- 
ties can  attain.  But  all  man's  excellences  resolve  themselves 
into  two  classes, — the  endowments  of  his  heart  and  those  of  his 
head, — the  virtues  of  his  will  and  those  of  his  understanding  ; 
and  these,  whatever  names  we  may  give  them,  are  all  modifica- 
tions of  the  two  universals  of  all  excellence — love  and  wisdom, 
or  goodness  and  truth.  Those  principles,  then,  which,  in  their  de- 
rivation, form  the  proper  excellences  of  human  nature, — the 


LECTURE  III. 


perfections  proper  to  man  as  an  image  and  likeness  of  God, — 
must,  in  their  underived  source,  and  as  existing  infinitely  in  God, 
constitute  the  two  first  principles  of  his  Essential  Nature. 

When  we  reflect  on  the  infinity  of  perfections  that  must  ne- 
cessarily exist  in  the  Divine  Nature,  infinite  in  number  as  well 
as  infinite  in  greatness,  we  seem  in  danger  of  being  swallowed 
up  in  the  fathomless  abyss.  No  virtue  ever  came  to  apprehension 
among  men,  or  received  a  name  in  any  of  the  languages  of  man- 
kind, which,  in  its  pure  essence  and  inmost  origin,  does  not 
reside  in  the  bosom  of  Deity,  and  does  not  thence  proceed  forth 
to  elevate,  adorn  and  beatify,  his  human  images.  What  the 
Psalmist  says  of  the  divine  thoughts  is  no  less  true  of  the  moral 
perfections  of  the  Lord  ;  which,  indeed,  must  be  meant  to  be  in- 
cluded in  the  expression  :  "  How  precious  are  thy  thoughts  unto 
me,  O  God  !  how  great  is  the  sum  of  them  !  If  I  should  count 
them,  they  are  more  in  number  than  the  sand."  Well  may  a 
week  mortal  exclaim,  on  attempting  some  contemplation  of  the 
infinite  subject,  "  Such  knowledge  is  too  wonderful  for  me  ;  it  is 
high,  I  cannot  attain  unto  it !"  But  though  our  admiration  can 
never  be  diminished,  our  embarrassment  is  somewhat  relieved, 
when  we  are  enabled  to  perceive,  as  is  the  truth,  that  innume- 
rable as  the  divine  perfections  are,  all  the  infinity  of  attributes 
which  can  be  conceived  of, — yea,  immensely  more  than  can  be 
conceived  of, — all  the  infinity  of  attributes  which  can  possibly 
exist  in  the  Divine  Nature,  are  nothing  but  modifications  of  the 
two  great  universal  essential  principles,  Love  and  Wisdom,  or 
Goodness  and  Truth.  What,  even,  is  the  great  attribute  which 
is  the  first  that  occurs  to  many  when  they  attempt  to  form  an 
idea  of  God, — the  attribute  of  Omnipotence,  or  Infinite  Power  'T 
— what  is  this  stupendous  attribute,  but  the  activity  of  Infinite 
Love  and  Wisdom  in  union, — the  ability  of  carrying  the  pur- 
poses and  plans  of  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom  into  act  ?  And 
how  delightful  is  this  conception  of  the  first  attributes  of  Di- 
vinity, not  only  for  its  beautiful  and  re-assuring  simplicity, 
but  for  its  attractive  and  engaging  amiableness.  Think  of  God 
primarily  from  the  idea  of  Infinite  Power,  and  how  tremendous 
a  Being  does  he  appear  !  But  think  of  Him  primarily  from  the 
idea  of  Infinite  Love  and  Infinite  Wisdom  ;  and  how  lovely  as 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP. 


43 


well  as  admirable  and  adorable  a  Divinity  does  He  become ! 
And  think  of  his  Infinite  Power  according  to  the  idea  just 
suggested, — as  nothing  but  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom  going 
forth  into  action,  and  accomplishing  their  purposes  of  beneficence 
with  unfailing  Might ;  and  how  does  the  sense  of  terror  sub- 
side, while  humility,  love,  and  adoration,  assume  its  place ! 
How  great,  then,  are  the  moral  benefits  which  such  an  idea  of 
the  Essential  Nature  of  God  is  calculated  to  produce  in  our- 
selves! How  excellent  and  amiable  will  be  the  character  of 
man,  when  assimilated  into  the  image  and  likeness  of  such  a 
God  as  this  ! 

But  we  are  also  to  show,  That  no  Attributes  inconsistent  with 
these  great  Essentials  of  Love  and  Wisdom  in  any  degree  enter 
into  the  Divine  Nature,  consequently ,  that  God  is  incapable  of  any 
feeling  like  that  of  Anger  or  Wrath  ;  and  that  the  attributing  of  such 
Passions  to  God  greatly  obscures  Man's  apprehensions  respecting 
Him,  and  darkens  the  System  of  Theology  in  which  it  is  admitted. 

Excuse  me,  my  friends,  if  I  make  a  remark  upon  this  latter 
subject  first,  which  perhaps  may  contradict  the  previous  senti- 
ments which  some  of  you  have  received. 

It  is  common  with  many  theologians  to  ascribe  to  God  an  attri- 
bute which  they  call  vindictive  justice ;  in  consequence  of  which  it 
has  been  very  generally  believed,  that  the  Father  of  mercy  really 
burns  with  such  wrath  against  sinners,  that  nothing  can  appease 
him  but  the  infliction  of  death  eternal,  either  in  himself  or  by  a 
substitute,  upon  every  one  who  has  ever  transgressed  the  divine  law 
so  much  as  in  one  iota.  Do  not  be  alarmed,  my  friends  ;  do  not 
imagine  that  I  am  going  to  weaken,  i^the  smallest  degree,  the 
necessity  of  our  redemption  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  the 
efficacy  of  his  sufferings  and  death.  Most  fully  do  we  believe, 
that  without  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  without  the 
benefits  procured  by  his  death  and  sufferings,  man  must  have 
perished  everlastingly.  The  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ  was  in- 
dispensably necessary  for  our  salvation,  although  Jehovah  does 
not  require,  for  every  single  offence,  and  after  it  has  been  put 
away  by  sincere  repentance,  that  man  should  be  punished  with- 
out end.  Call  this  supposed  attribute,  which  demands  eternal 
vengance  for  every  imperfection,  even  after  repentance  and 


LECTURE  III. 


amendment ; — call  such  an  attribute  justice,  or  whatever  we  may 
please,  it  surely  is  equivalent  to  what  we  call  in  men  inexorable 
rage,  unappeasable  revenge  ;  and  to  ascribe  it  to  the  Lord,  is  the 
same  thing  as  to  affirm,  that  He  is  in  his  own  nature  essential 
anger,  not  Essential  Love.  It  is  true  that  the  anger,  and  even 
the  fierce  anger,  of  the  Lord,  are  mentioned  in  the  Holy  Word 
in  a  variety  of  places  :  but  here,  as  we  have  before  intimated,  the 
Sacred  Record  speaks  in  accommodation  to  human  apprehension. 
Just  in  the  same  manner  it  is  sometimes  said  that  the  Lord 
repents,  or  is  sorry  for  what  He  had  purposed  to  do,  and  even, 
sometimes,  for  what  he  had  actually  done.  Thus  we  read,  when 
the  wickedness  of  man  had  arrived  at  its  greatest  height,  just 
before  the  flood,  that  "  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man 
upon  the  earth  ;"  and  not  only  so,  but  that  "  it  grieved  him  at  his 
heart."  So,  after  Saul  had  become  disobedient,  it  is  said,  that 
"  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  Saul  king  over  Israel." 
If  we  understand  this  literally,  how  does  it  agree  with  every  idea 
we  can  form  of  the  foreknowledge  and  infinite  wisdom  of  God? 
How  does  it  agree  with  those  other  declarations  which  are  re- 
peated in  various  parts  of  the  Holy  Word,  in  which  it  is  said, 
that  "  God  is  not  as  man  that  he  should  lie,  or  as  the  son  of 
man  that  he  should  repent  ?"  [Num.  xxiii.  19  ;  1  Sam.  xv.  29  ; 
Mai.  iii.  6,  &c]  How  plain  is  it  to  see,  that,  when  the  Sacred 
Record  speaks  thus,  it  declares  the  geuuine  truth,  as  it  really 
exists  in  the  Divine  Nature ;  whereas  when  it  speaks  of  the 
Lord's  repenting,  it  cannot  me#n  to  affirm  any  actual  change  in 
the  Lord  himself,  but  must  be  spoken,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  says 
he  sometimes  speaks,  ^Rom.  vi.  19  ;  Gal.  iii.  15,]  after  the 
manner  of  men.  It  is,  in  reality,  a  form  of  speech  intended  to 
express  a  total  cessation  of  every  thing,  on  the  part  of  those  to 
whom  it  refers,  by  which  they  stood  in  the  order  for  which  they 
were  created,  or  were  raised  up, — an  utter  state  of  apostasy  on  the 
part  of  man,  not  a  change  of  sentiment  in  the  immutable  God. 
Similar  is  the  way  in  which  we  are  to  understand  those  passages 
in  which  anger  is  ascribed  to  the  Lord.  Anger  is  one  of  the 
greatest  infirmities  of  human  nature,  from  which  they  who  have 
most  succeeded  in  emancipating  themselves  have  always  been 
considered  as  approaching  nearest  to  what  human  nature  ought 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  45 

to  be.  What  should  we  think  of  a  judge,  who  should  pro- 
nounce sentence  upon  even  the  greatest  of  criminals  under  the 
influence  of  anger  ?  All  would  consider  such  a  judge  to  be  un- 
worthy of  his  office,  and  totally  unfit  to  be  entrusted  with  the 
power  of  deciding  on  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  others.  How 
then  can  it  be  conceived,  that  a  passion  which  would  disgrace  a 
human  judge,  can  be  an  attribute  belonging  to  the  Supreme 
Judge  ? — that  a  passion  which  is  among  the  strongest  evidences 
of  human  infirmity,  can  be  among  the  attributes  of  Infinite 
Perfection '?  Surely,  then,  it  cannot  be  difficult  to  see,  that  when 
anger,  like  repentance,  is  sometimes,  in  the  letter  of  the  Holy 
Word,  ascribed  to  Jehovah,  it  is  done  in  the  way  of  accommo- 
dation to  the  gross  ways  of  thinking  of  sensualized  man  ; — that  it 
is  merely  a  strong  mode  of  representing  the  utter  contrariety  of 
the  sinner's  state  of  mind  to  the  divine  perfections,  and  of  ex- 
pressing the  impossibility  of  his  abiding,  while  he  remains  in  his 
sinful  state,  in  the  presence  of  Infinite  Goodness,  or  of  enjoying 
that  felicity  of  which  Infinite  Goodness  is  the  only  Source.  We 
are  taught  by  it,  that  it  is  as  utterly  impossible  for  wickedness  to 
enter  the  Divine  Presence,  or  for  the  sinner  to  enjoy  the  happi- 
ness of  which  the  Lord  is  the  Only  Fountain,  as  if  the  Lord 
actually  did  burn  with  anger  against  him.  Evil  and  good  are 
irreconcilable  contraries  :  and  to  him  who  makes  evil  his  good, 
pure  good,  which  is  essential  love,  cannot  really  appear  as  good 
or  love ;  but  good  as  evil  and  love  as  anger.  1  In  all  evil,  also, 
misery  is  inherent ;  and  they  who  make  it  their  good  must 
finally  be  as  wretched,  as  they  could  be,  did  anger  and  wrath 
actually  burn  against  them  in  the  bosom  of  the  all-merciful 
God. 

It  may  be  worthy  of  remark,  further,  that  frequently  as  the 
anger  of  the  Lord  is  mentioned  in  Scripture,  it  never  has  a 
place  in  any  of  the  descriptions  which  the  Lord  gives  of  his  own 
attributes.  When  He  expressly  declares  who  and  what  He  is, 
He  never  calls  himself  a  God  of  anger  ; — a  circumstance  which 
might  alone  lead  us  to  the  conclusion,  that  whenever  his  anger  is 
incidentally  spoken  of,  it  does  not  refer  to  anything  which  has 
positively  an  existence  in  Himself,  but  only  to  a  state  of  evil  and 
contrariety  to  the  Divine  Goodness  in  the  sinner,  which  renders 


as 


LECTURE  HI. 


the  sinner  incapable  of  viewing  Him  as  He  really  is, — a  God  of 
love.  In  this  character,  though  it  is  really  that  which  most 
essentially  belongs  to  Him,  none  can  view  Him  indeed,  but  they, 
who,  by  the  reception  of  his  love  in  their  own  hearts,  are  in 
some  measure  conformed  to  his  image  and  likeness.  When 
therefore  the  scripture  speaks  of  the  Lord's  being  angry,  visiting 
the  sins  of  the  fathers  on  the  children,  and  the  like,  it  speaks 
according  to  the  appearance.  Evils  often  fall  upon  children 
through  the  sins  or  misconduct  of  their  parents :  but  it  is  not 
the  Lord  who  brings  this  upon  them  ;  it  is  the  result  of  circum- 
stances, which,  without  disturbing  the  order  of  his  creation,  and 
producing  worse  mischiefs,  the  Lord,  all  love  and  goodness  as  He 
is,  cannot  interfere  to  prevent.  Who  that  is  capable  of  rising  to 
some  degree  of  interior  thought,  does  not  see,  as  of  himself,  that 
if  man  is  to  continue  such  a  being  as  we  see  that  he  is,  as  to  his 
essential  nature  according  to  which  he  was  created, — a  being  left 
to  act  in  perfect  freedom  from  a  self-determining  power  in  his 
own  mind  (and  even  those  who  deny  that  he  is  thus  free  in 
reality,  acknowledge  that  his  own  perceptions  dictate  that  he  is 
so) ; — that  if  he  is  thus  to  be  maintained,  to  all  appearance  (and, 
as  we  believe,  in  absolute  reality)  a  free  agent,  and  that  he  would 
cease  to  be  a  human  being  if  this  freedom  were  to  be  taken  from 
him  ; — then  the  permission  of  evil  is  a  necessary  consequence  : 
since  if  he  were  not  permitted,  when  he  lusts  towards  evil, 
actually  to  commit  it,  all  appearance  of  being  free  would  be 
taken  away.  Is  then  the  evil  which  man  from  his  own  evil  state 
commits,  from  the  Lord,  the  result  of  his  positive  will,  because 
He  permits  it  ?  Assuredly  not.  What  the  Lord  wills  is,  that 
man  should  be  preserved  in  a  state  of  freedom,  because  no  other- 
wise could  anything  good  from  the  Lord  be  appropriated  by  him 
and  imputed  to  him ;  consequently,  he  would  be  incapable  of  heaven, 
and  even  of  eternal  life.  Whatever  then  is  necessary  to  main- 
tain this  state,  and  thus  to  bring  him  to  heaven  and  make  him 
a  partaker  of  eternal  life,  even  when  it  involves  the  permission 
of  evil,  the  Lord,  though  He  wills  nothing  but  good,  sees  good 
to  permit ;  because,  otherwise,  all  the  good  intended  for  man  in 
his  creation  would  be  defeated.  The  permission  of  natural  evil  is 
altogether  similar.  Wherever  moral  evil  exists,  natural  evil,  which 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP. 


4? 


is  its  outward  manifestation,  will  follow  :  yet  natural  evil  is  no 
more  a  result  of  will  in  the  Lord  than  moral  evil  is.  All  evils 
that  exist,  whether  natural  or  moral,  are  permitted  by  the  Lord 
for  the  prevention  of  greater,  and  are  overruled  by  Him  for 
the  eventual  promotion  of  his  purposes  of  pure  beneficence. 
Nothing  then  can  be  more  erroneous  than  to  imagine,  that 
because  evils,  both  moral  and  natural,  exist  in  the  world,  they 
proceed  from  motives  of  will,  and  thus  from  wrath,  anger,  or 
vengeance,  in  the  bosom  of  Deity.  All  that  He  wills  is  good — 
the  eternal  benefit  of  his  creatures ;  and  all  that  He  permits 
which  is  not  good,  He  permits  for  the  same  object ; — be- 
cause no  otherwise  can  the  eternal  desire  of  his  Love,  the 
truest  welfare  of  his  creatures,  be  so  effectually  promoted. 

I  will  conclude  with  a  few  observations  with  the  view  of 
guarding  this  doctrine  of  the  pure  goodness  of  the  Lord  from 
being  perverted  ;  and  will  show,  very  briefly,  That  although  God 
in  his  Essence  is  pure  and  infinite  Love  and  Wisdom,  and  thus  is 
incapable  of  feeling  the  Passion  of  Anger  even  against  his  most 
obdurate  Enemies,  this  affords  no  encouragewent  to  the  Sinner 
to  persevere  in  his  evil  courses;  since  no  one  can  be  saved,  and 
enjoy  that  felicity  which  Divine  Love  is  ever  desirous  to  impart, 
except  by  the  reception,  from  the  Lord,  of  the  saving  graces  of 
love  and  wisdom  in  his  own  heart  and  mind,  and  his  being 
assimilated  thereby  into  the  Divine  image  and  likeness. 

Every  one  sees  by  the  light  of  reason  itself  as  soon  as  he 
hears  it,  that  there  can  be  no  attribute  in  God  at  variance  with 
the  primary  one  of  Love  :  Yet  religious  persons  are  often  afraid 
of  admitting  this  truth,  from  the  apprehension,  that  if  God  is 
nothing  but  love,  and  really  makes  the  sun  of  his  divine  favour, 
both  spiritually  and  naturally,  to  shine  alike  upon  the  evil  and 
the  good,  there  will  be  no  final  difference  between  vice  and 
virtue,  and  that  eternal  happiness  must  equally  be  the  portion  of 
the  wicked  and  of  the  good.  But  many  are  the  mistakes  which 
are  involved  in  this  erroneous  conclusion.  If  evil  were  not  to  be 
restrained,  by  punishment,  from  pursuing  its  objects  and  delights, 
all  the  order  of  the  universe  would  be  destroyed,  and  universal 
anarchy,  bringing  with  it  universal  wretchedness,  would  be  the 
result.    Though,  therefore,  God  wills  it  not,  and  takes  no  delight 


4S 


LECTURE  III. 


in  punishing,  there  must  be  punishments  for  the  wicked  here- 
after :  and  though  God  wishes  to  lead  all  to  happiness  in  heaven, 
this  cannot  be  conferred  upon  a  man,  without  destroying  his 
nature  as  a  man,  against  his  own  will  and  consent :  and  as  it  is 
in  this  life  that  man  finally  makes  up  the  state  of  his  spirit,  and 
becomes  confirmed,  without  the  possibility  of  change  hereafter, 
either  in  good  or  in  evil ;  in  order  that  it  might  be  possible  for 
him  to  choose  the  good  and  live  in  eternal  happiness,  it  was 
necessary  that  he  should  be  left  also  at  liberty  to  choose  evil  and 
plunge  in  everlasting  wretchedness.  Happiness,  also,  and  misery, 
are  respectively  inherent  in  good  and  evil  themselves,  and  are 
inseparable  from  them  :  it  is  therefore  impossible  to  make  any 
one  happy  by  compulsion,  just  as  it  is  impossible  by  compulsion 
to  make  him  good.  If,  therefore,  evil  be  left  freely  to  man's 
choice,  so  also  must  misery.  There  is  no  attaining  happiness 
eternal,  but  by  freely  receiving,  in  the  heart  and  mind,  love  and 
wisdom  from  their  Infinite  Source  :  Where  these  are,  there,  and 
there  alone,  is  happiness. 

It  appears,  therefore,  most  evident,  that  although,  where  evil 
exists,  misery  must  be  consequent  upon  it,  yet  this  indispensable 
arrangement  of  Divine  Order  forms  no  drawback  from  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  comforting  and  animating  truth,  that  the  Lord 
Almighty,  our  Heavenly  Father,  is,  in  his  own  nature,  nothing 
but  Love  and  Wisdom,  and  that  his  love  ever  burns  to  impart 
good  to  all,  while  his  wisdom  is  ever  engaged  in  providing  means 
to  accomplish  the  ends  designed  by  such  love.  We  see  that  if 
there  are  finite  creatures  who  seem  uninfluenced  by  the  ope- 
ration upon  them  of  these  divine  attributes,  this  arises  from  a 
necessity  that  must  ever  attach  to  created  natures  ;  since  only 
the  Divine  Nature  can  be  free  from  imperfection ;  and  if  men 
could  be  created  free  from  imperfection,  which  alone  could  make 
them  secure  from  the  liability  to  lapse  into  evil,  they  would  not 
be  men,  but  gods.  But  that  Divine  Power  in  its  utmost  infinity 
can  never  create  beings  of  the  same  nature  as  God  Himself, 
every  rational  perception  concludes  instinctively.  The  lamentable 
fact,  then,  that  many  do  not  comply  with  the  desires  of  Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom,  by  accepting  that  heavenly  good  in  which  is 
inherent  eternal  happiness,  is  no  argument  that  Love  and 


THE  DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP. 


4S 


Wisdom,  such  as  have  this  result  ever  in  view,  are  not  the  most 
essential  attributes  and  elements  of  the  Divine  Nature,  or  that 
any  passion  of  the  nature  of  anger  can  possibly  dwell  with  them 
in  the  same  Divine  breast. 

If,  then,  brethren,  the  God  with  whom  we  have  to  do  is 
essentially  such  as  we  have  faintly  attempted  to  describe,  how  are 
we  to  conduct  ourselves  to  comply  with  his  will  ?  How,  but  by 
applying  ourselves  to  respond  to  his  gracious  inclinations  towards 
us,  by  accepting  from  Him,  and  cultivating  in  ourselves,  the 
communications  of  that  Love  and  Wisdom  which  are  essentially 
Himself?  To  regain  in  some  measure  his  image  and  likeness, 
when  the  desire  of  his  inmost  nature  is  to  impart  it  to  us,  surely 
cannot  be  a  work  of  very  insuperable  difficulty.  Must  not,  as 
already  suggested,  the  conviction,  once  profoundly  received,  that 
such  is  the  nature  of  God,  of  itself,  tend  to  model  our  hearts  and 
minds  in  conformity  with  so  amiable  as  well  as  admirable  an 
Original  ?  Assuredly,  nothing  can  be  more  animating,  or  more 
exalting,  than  the  entire  belief,  that  God,  the  author  of  our 
being,  and  whose  will  should  be  ours,  is,  most  essentially,  Love 
Itself  and  Wisdom  Itself,  and  that  nothing  is  so  much  desired 
by  Him,  as  that  these  principles  should  shine  as  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  all  his  rational  creatures. 


4 


LECTURE  IV. 


DIVINE  LOVE  THE  MOVING  CAUSE  OF  CREATION. 


Rev.  iv.  Li. 

Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honour  and  power ; 
for  thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are,  and 
were  created." 

The  Essential  Nature  of  the  Divine  Object  of  our  worship  is  a 
thing  of  such  transcendant  importance  to  his  dependent  creatures, 
and  to  possess  both  just  and  assured  convictions  respecting  it, 
is,  to  them,  of  such  incalculable  interest  and  necessity,  that  I 
will  pursue  the  subject  in  the  present  Lecture,  and  will  further 
develop  some  of  the  points  of  inquiry  which  were  but  inciden- 
tally touched  upon  in  our  last. 

Many  are  the  questions  upon  which  the  reason  of  a  man  who 
is  accustomed  to  exercise  that  invaluable  gift,  is  naturally,  and 
not  improperly  disposed  to  be  active,  but  to  which  no  satisfactory 
answer  can  be  obtained,  till,  as  the  Psalmist  expresses  it,  he 
enters  into  the  sanctuary  of  God  ;  or  seeks  a  solution  of  his  in- 
quiries at  the  oracles  of  Divine  Truth.  Yet  here,  again,  if  we 
rely  on  those  who  assume  to  be  the  interpreters  of  those  oracles, 
there  is  frequent  danger  of  disappointment.  The  oracles  of  Divine 
Truth  are  usually  consulted  through  the  medium  of  the  creeds 
which  the  various  classes  of  the  disciples  of  Christianity  have 
professed  to  derive  from  them:  and  hence  the  answers  obtained,  in 
regard  to  many  questions  of  the  highest  importance,  are  too  often 
anything  but  convincing  in  the  estimation  of  reason :  and  reason, 
if  not  competent  to  give  answers,  of  itself,  to  questions  on  interior 
and  purely  spiritual  subjects,  can  nevertheless  judge  of  their 


DIVINE  LOVE  THE  MOVING  CAUSE  OF  CREATION.  51 

•ruth,  when  obtained,  either  really  or  only  in  profession,  from  a 
higher  source. 

Now  there  probably  are  few  points  in  the  whole  circle  of 
Theology,  in  which  (if  we  may  say  it  without  offence,)  the  framers 
of  systems  have  more  greatly  erred,  than  in  their  answer  to  the 
question,  What  was  the  motive  ichich  primarily  influenced  the 
Divine  Mind  in  the  creation  of  the  universe  ?  and,  in  fact,  in  all 
his  dealings  with  his  creatures  since  ?  Our  text  declares,  "  that 
for  the  Lord's  pleasure,  all  things  are  and  were  created."  The 
truth  of  this  statement  is  seen  and  recognised  by  all :  but  of 
what  nature,  herein,  was  the  Lord's  pleasure, — or,  as  the  original 
expression  properly  means,  his  will, — has  not  been  so  clearly 
seen  ;  and  in  reality,  great  mistakes  have  existed  respecting  it. 

In  contemplating  the  divine  attributes,  that  which,  as  noticed 
in  our  last,  seems  most  obviously  to  command  attention,  and 
thence  to  have  chiefly  arrested  the  mind  of  systematic  writers  on 
Divinity,  is,  the  Infinite  Power  of  God.  No  one  can  meditate 
on  the  Divine  Being  at  all  without  having  this  immediately 
presented  to  his  apprehension.  This  divine  attribute,  more 
than  any  other,  rivets  the  notice  of  man  in  a  state  of  barbarism 
and  ignorance  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  unavoidably  the  first  which 
presents  itself  to  the  untutored  mind,  when  attempting  to  soar 
towards  heavenly  meditations.  Most  worthily  then  does  it 
demand  a  few  observations. 

We  certainly  cannot  open  our  eyes  at  all,  with  any  acknow- 
ledgment of  a  Superior  Being  in  our  hearts,  without  beholding 
the  marks  of  his  Omnipotence  in  everything  that  meets  the 
view.  If  we  look  round  on  the  face  of  nature,  we  behold  the 
globe  on  which  we  stand  variegated,  in  beautiful  alternations, 
with  land  and  water,  mountains  and  vallies,  forests  and  fields. 
We  find  the  solid  parts  of  the  earth's  surface  covered  with  an 
endless  variety  of  trees  and  herbs,  including  innumerable  flowers 
to  please  the  eye,  and  fruits  without  end  to  gratify  the  palate, 
and  contribute  to  the  support  of  human  life  :  while  such  of  the 
vegetable  productions  as  are  not  so  immediately  required  for  the 
nourishment  of  man,  supply  the  means  of  subsistence  to  animals 
of  a  lower  order.  Here,  again,  the  flood  of  wonders,  arguing 
infinite  power  in  their  Creator,  continues  to  rise  upon  us.  The 


62  LECTURE  IV. 

diversity  of  tribes  which  form  the  animal  kingdom  are  scarcely 
less  numerous  than  those  which  exhaust  astonishment  by  their 
multiplicity  in  the  vegetable  domains.  The  land  and  the  water, 
the  regions  of  air,  and  even  the  interior  surface  of  the  ground, 
are  alike  peopled  with  sentient  inhabitants  ;  the  principal  of 
which  man  finds  means  to  subjugate  to  his  control,  and  derives 
from  them  the  most  valuable  aids  to  increase  the  comforts  of 
his  own  existence. 

But  when  he  raises  his  glance  from  the  earth  around  him,  and 
contemplates  the  scene  which  is  displayed  by  the  sky  above  him  ; 
when  he  looks  at  the  glorious  luminary  that  imparts  heat  and 
light  to  this  mundane  system,  and  beholds  how 

"  Th'  unwearied  sun,  from  day  to  day, 
Does  his  Creator's  power  display  ;" 
when  he  observes  again,  that 

"  Soon  as  the  evening  shades  prevail, 
The  moon  takes  up  the  wondrous  tale  ;" — 
when  he  contemplates,  further,  the  countless  stars, — especially  if 
science  has  dawned  upon  his  mind,  and  shed  some  light  on  the 
true  nature  of  those  hosts  of  heaven  (as  they  are  sublimely 
termed  in  Scripture,)  discovering  their  immense  magnitude,  their 
unimaginable  distance,  their  inconceivable  number :  When,  I 
say,  man  takes  such  a  view  of  the  wonders  which  the  frame  of 
outward  nature  sets  before  his  eyes — to  say  nothing  of  the  still 
more  admirable  wonders  discoverable  on  an  inspection  of  his  own 
frame  and  constitution  ;  he  cannot  fail  to  be  overpowered  with  a 
sense  of  the  boundless  infinity  of  that  Almighty  Power,  by  which 
the  whole  was  spoken  into  existence. 

No  wonder,  then,  if  this  most  obvious,  most  striking,  of  the 
divine  attributes,  has  been  the  chief  divine  perfection  contem- 
plated by  the  framers  of  systems  of  theology, — at  least,  in 
modern  times.  Still  less  need  we  wonder,  if,  on  examining  the 
superstitions  of  savages,  wc  find  that  they  have  stronger  ideas  of 
the  power  of  their  deities  than  of  any  of  their  moral  qualities  ;  for 
they  commonly  regard  them  as  being  at  least  equally  disposed  to 
exert  their  power  in  acts  of  malevolence  as  in  those  of  benignity. 
Na)',  so  natural  is  this  veneration  of  mere  power  to  the  human 
mind,  even  when  most  highly  cultivated  by  science  and  literature^ 


DIVINE  LOVE  THE  MOVING  CAUSE  OF  CREATION.  53 

so  long  as  it  is  a  stranger  to  the  more  amiable  and  elevating  views 
of  Deity  which  nothing  but  an  acknowledgment  of  pure  Divine 
Truth  can  impart,  that  it  has  been  justly  observed  of  the  most 
celebrated  poet  of  recent  times,  that  while  his  writings  exhibit 
little  trace  of  a  reference  to  a  benevolent  Deity,  they  frequently 
display  strong  marks  of  a  disposition  to  adore  mere  power; — that 
power  alone, — the  brute  power  being  able  to  do  anything,  good 
or  bad,  to  which  an  impulse  may  arise,  seemed  the  only  thing 
capable  of  raising  any  feelings  approaching  to  religious  venera- 
tion in  the  energetic  but  misdirected  mind  of  a  Byron. 

Since  then  it  is  indubitable,  that  the  idea  of  Infinite  Power  is 
that  which  most  strongly  affects  the  mind  of  man  in  his  natural 
state,  there  is  no  occasion  for  surprise,  if  this  was  the  divine 
attribute  chiefly  contemplated  by  the  framers  of  the  present 
generally  prevailing  systems  of  Divinity  : — systems,  be  it  re- 
membered, as  an  apology  for  the  censure,  for  the  most  part 
framed  in  an  age  of  darkness,  or  at  best  but  of  dawning  light, 
when  the  minds  of  men,  beginning  to  try  their  unfledged  pinions 
on  awaking  from  the  death-like  sleep  of  the  Romish  domination, 
had  not  yet  learned  to  make  the  best  use  of  those  faculties, 
which  they  had  only  just  discovered,  after  an  oblivion  of  ages, 
that  they  possessed.  The  first  thing  that  struck  the  attention 
of  these  restorers  of  freedom  to  human  inquiries,  when  medita- 
ting on  the  attributes  of  God,  was  his  infinite  power :  and  con- 
necting this  power  with  the  same  adjuncts  which  usually  attend 
superior  power  when  possessed  by  men,  the  motive  assigned  by 
them  for  the  creation  of  the  universe  was  such  as  might  be  ex- 
pected to  influence  great  Power  if  unaccompanied  by  amiable 
moral  attributes, — an  inclination  to  exert  itself  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  attract  admiration, — a  desire  to  surround  itself  with 
witnesses  and  admirers.  Accordingly,  the  creeds  of  most 
churches  to  the  present  day,  affirm,  that  angels,  men,  the  earth, 
and  all  creation,  were  made  by  God  purely  for  his  own  glory  : 
that,  in  all  that  he  has  since  done  to  or  for  man,  even  in  the  work 
of  redemption  itself,  the  advancement  of  his  own  glory  was 
the  prime  moving  impulse  with  God  :  that  in  all  his  works  of 
Providence,  his  own  glory  is  the  principal  thing  he  regards.  In 
short,  all  the  other  attributes  together  which  have  existence 


§4 


LECTURE  IV. 


in  God  are  supposed  to  act  in  complete  subordination  to  that  of 
his  Infinite  power,  and  to  his  desire  to  exalt  his  own  glory. 

I  believe  that  this  view  is  presented  in  most  systems  of  re- 
ligion. It  certainly  forms  the  cardinal  point  of  the  Calvinistic 
scheme  :  and  this  greatly  preponderates  in  the  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  wholly  reigns  in  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
and  is  embraced  by  the  far  greater  portion  of  the  English  Dis- 
senters. 

That  glory  is  most  justly  due  to  the  Almighty  Lord  for  all 
his  wondrous  works,  and  will  be  rendered  Him  with  humble 
devotion  by  every  rightly  feeling  mind,  is  unquestionable  :  but 
whether  the  desire  of  this  constitutes  a  governing  motive  in  the 
Divine  Mind,  and  became  the  moving  cause  of  creation,  is  a 
totally  different  question,  and  one  well  worthy  of  a  moment's 
consideration. 

That  the  love  of  glory  is  a  passion  very  congenial  to  the  na- 
ture of  mankind,  is,  indeed,  very  certain  :  and  it  has  even  been 
extolled  by  many  who  assume  the  title  of  moralists  and  philo- 
sophers, as  the  legitimate  stimulus  to  every  great  exertion.  It 
is,  however,  undeniable,  that  they  who  have  been  most  under 
the  influence  of  this  principle,  have  more  frequently  been  the 
scourges  of  the  human  race  than  its  benefactors.  Even  where 
it  has  heen  the  producing  cause  of  effects  beneficial  to  society,  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  great  praise  was  due  to  the  performer 
of  them.  He  who  founds  a  beneficent  institution  from  the  love 
of  the  human  race,  and  out  of  a  compassionate  desire  to  relieve 
the  necessities  of  his  fellow-creatures,  well  deserves  all  the  glory 
that  the  blessings  of  grateful  generations  on  his  name  can 
bestow  :  but  he  who,  without  truly  caring  for  his  fellow  crea- 
tures, makes  mere  glory  his  object,  scarcely  deserves  even  this. 
At  any  rate,  the  highest  Authority  has  declared,  that  he  who 
does  his  alms  to  be  seen  of  men,  thus  for  the  sake  of  glory, 
shall  have  no  other  reward  than  such  glory  can  convey.  Per- 
haps it  may  be  with  truth  affirmed,  that  they  whose  ruling  pas- 
sion was  the  love  of  glory,  never  sought  to  obtain  it  by  bene- 
ficent actions,  except  when  circumstances  precluded  their  hope  of 
securing  it  by  deeds  of  a  more  dazzling  kind  :  at  least,  the  latter 
would  have  their  preference  when  equally  practicable.  The 


DIVINE  LOVE  THE  MOVING  CAUSE  OF  CREATION. 


55 


honours  of  war  and  triumph — the  subjugation  of  nations — the 
driving  of  the  car  of  victory  over  prostrate  foes: — these  are  the 
things  most  delightful  in  themselves  to  the  mere  seeker  of  glory. 
Glory  was  the  idol  so  devotedly  worshipped  by  an  Alexander,  a 
Caesar,  a  Napoleon,  and  by  i  all  other  conquerors :  and  cruel 
indeed  have  been  the  sacrifices  by  which  they  gained  the  favour 
of  the  demon.  The  Cynic  philosopher,  with  equal  pride,  had 
not  the  means  of  obtaining  glory  by  extending  his  possessions  : 
he  therefore  sought  it  by  affecting  to  despise  them  :  in  which 
the  Hero  of  Macedon  beheld  a  spirit  so  like  his  own,  as  to 
declare,  that  if  he  were  not  Alexander,  he  would  be  Diogenes. 

In  short,  the  love  of  glory,  is  merely  one  of  the  forms  of 
selfishness  or  self-love.  To  ascribe  then  such  a  motive  to  the 
Deity,  and  to  believe  that  the  world  was  created  purely  to 
gratify  it,  is  to  adopt  a  persuasion  only  worthy  of  the  darkness 
of  paganism,  or  the  blindness  of  infidelity.  If  Moloch  or 
Lucifer  could  become  a  Creator,  it  doubtless  would  be  from  such 
a  motive  as  this :  and  to  ascribe  this  motive  to  the  true  God,  is 
in  reality  to  liken  him  to  such  spirits  of  darkness.  No  !  no ! 
such  a  selfish  motive  as  this  never  prompted  one  act  of  the 
Father  of  the  universe:  much  less  could  it  prompt  the  world's 
creation.  His  precept  to  his  faithful  servants  is,  to  do  good, 
and  lend,  hoping  for  nothing  again ;  of  course,  not  for  glory  : 
and  surely  it  would  be  grossly  libelling  our  Creator  to  suppose, 
that  He  requires  a  lower  stimulus  to  his  beneficent  acts  than  he 
permits  to  so  frail  a  creature  as  man.  The  builders  of  Babel, 
we  are  told,  were  stimulated  by  the  love  of  glory  :  they  said, 
"  Go  to,  let  us  build  us  a  tower  whose  top  may  reach  unto 
heaven,  and  let  us  make  us  a  name"  To  such  aspirers,  let  us 
leave  it.  Such  motive  might  well  give  rise  to  a  Babel  of  con- 
fusion ;  but  never  could  it  produce  a  universe  of  order. 

Let  us  then  again  turn  our  eyes  on  the  scenes  of  creation, 
and  see  if  we  cannot  find  written  on  them  the  traces  of  some 
other  of  the  attributes  of  its  Maker,  beside  his  infinite  power. 
Infinite  power,  indeed,  must  have  been  the  instrument  of  its 
production ;  but  the  mere  display  of  this  can  never  have  been 
its  end. 

Now  we  cannot  take  even  a  slight  inspection  of  the  universal 


56 


LECTURE  IV. 


frame,  without  being  struck  with  the  wonderful  harmony  and 
arrangement  of  all  its  parts  ;  nothing  in  it  being  formed  for 
itself  alone,  but  so  connected  with  the  rest,  as  to  contribute,  in  a 
higher  or  lower  degree,  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole.  The  whole 
creation  is  a  system  of  uses  or  utilities,  so  arranged  as  to  produce, 
by  the  perfect  union  and  adaption  of  the  parts,  not  merely  the 
general  well-being  of  the  whole,  but  also  the  particular  well- 
being  of  all  the  parts  ;  at  least,  if  anything,  at  any  time,  disturbs 
any  of  the  parts  (although  even  such  disturbing  influences  are 
so  overruled  as  to  contribute  finally  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole,) 
the  irregularity  may  be  shown  to  arise  from  causes  extrinsic  to 
the  main  design,  and  to  be  only  permitted  in  order  to  throw 
off  something,  which,  if  left  to  itself,  would  occasion  far  greater 
mischief. 

We  behold  the  mere  globe  of  earth  and  water,  inert  and 
inactive  in  itself,  yet  affording  a  base  upon  which  every  thing 
else  rests;  and  supplying  nourishment,  more  immediately,  to 
the  vegetable  kingdom.  We  behold,  again,  the  vegetable  king- 
dom, though  destitute  of  any  conscious  life,  and  of  course  inca- 
pable of  enjoying  its  own  existence  and  beauties,  yet  ministering 
the  means  of  subsistence  and  enjoyment  to  the  animal  kingdom; 
and  even  to  man  himself;  who  alone,  while  he  enjoys  the  fruits 
which  the  vegetable  kingdom  offers  for  his  support,  is  capable  of 
reflecting  on,  and  deriving  delight  from,  its  .innumerable  beau- 
ties. In  like  manner,  the  animal  kingdom  in  general  ministers 
most  extensively  to  the  necessities  and  comforts  of  man  ;  the 
most  noble  of  its  subjects  supplying  him  with  food,  clothing, 
any  many  other  gifts;  while  those  which  immediately  contribute 
nothing  to  his  use,  or  even  are  felt  by  him  as  noxious,  neverthe- 
less, no  doubt,  contribute  to  the  well-being  of  the  whole 
system,  and  thus,  however  remotely,  promote  the  comfort  of 
man,  the  great  (deputed)  monarch  of  all.  Even  if  it  should  be 
necessary  to  allow  that  some  kinds  of  animals  and  vegetables  are 
of  no  use  at  all  (which  however,  I  have  no  doubt,  could  be  com- 
pletely disproved,)  still  it  must  be  remembered,  that,  by  common 
consent,  all  things  noxious,  if  they  did  not,  as  appears  most 
probable,  first  begin  to  exist  at  the  entry  of  sin  into  the  world, 
at  least  did  not  till  then  acquire  their  injurious  properties.  While 


DIVINE  LOVE  THE  MOVING  CAUSE  OF  CREATION.  57 

man  was  in  the  paradisiacal  state,  doubtless,  nothing  existed  at 
all  which  did  not  promote  his  comfort :  and  if,  since  his  lapse 
into  evil,  elemental  convulsions  and  noxious  productions  conspire 
to  annoy  him,  still,  doubtless,  nothing  of  the  kind  exists  but 
what  originates  in  his  depraved  state  :  and  natural  evil  is  made 
to  serve  as  a  check  to  moral  evil,  and,  whether  we  can  always  see 
the  connexion  or  not,  to  prevent  man  from  destroying  himself,  as 
to  his  capacity  for  eternal  happiness,  still  more  completely  than 
has  yet  been  accomplished  by  sin. 

Leaving,  however,  at  present,  the  existence  of  natural  evil  in 
the  world  to  be  explained  as  every  individual  may  prefer,  it  is 
universally  allowed  that,  taking  the  face  of  the  whole  world 
together,  good  is  incomparably  predominant  over  evil.  If,  for 
wise  ends  that  we  cannot  always  see,  our  harvests  are  sometimes 
destroyed  by  unfavourable  seasons,  and  a  tempest  or  an  earth- 
quake occasions  a  partial  desolation,  still  it  is  most  evident,  that 
it  is  not  merely  to  be  the  sport  of  such  occurrences,  that  the 
world,  and  man,  were  created.  Good,  blessing,  happiness ; — 
these  are  plainly  the  ends  which  the  arrangement  of  the  whole 
was  designed  to  produce :  evil,  injury,  misery  are  clearly  acci- 
dents ; — such,  probably,  as  cannot  be  separated  from  the  state  of 
man  as  a  moral  agent  in  a  degenerate  condition,  but  which  evi- 
dently form  no  part  of  the  universal  plan.  Good,  most  certainly, 
is  the  rule  :  evil,  the  exception.  A  distinguished  writer  has  most 
justly  observed,  that  although  the  human  frame  is  liable  to  various 
distressing  ills,  yet  there  is  no  part  of  its  complicated  machinery 
purposely  formed  to  produce  them.  Every  part  of  the  human 
body  has  evidently  been  constructed  with  a  design  to  contribute 
to  the  welfare  of  the  rest ;  no  part  purposely  to  introduce  disease. 
Health  and  well-being,  then,  are  plainly  the  ends  designed : 
sickness  and  pain  are  merely  the  exceptions.  So  it  is  with 
respect  to  the  construction  and  arrangement  of  the  whole  crea- 
tion :  the  welfare  of  all  its  parts,  and  the  good  and  happiness  of 
all  its  sentient  inhabitants,  are  obviously  the  ends  designed 
throughout  the  whole. 

Whence  then  can  this  tendency  to  the  good  and  happiness  of 
the  created  subjects  have  been  introduced  into  the  whole  of  the 
creation,  but  from  the  attribute  of  Infinite  Benevolence  existing 


LECTURE  IV. 


in  the  Creator?  Whence  such  admirable  adaptation  of  the 
means  to  the  end,  but  from  Infinite  Intelligence?  Can  more 
conclusive  evidence  be  desired  of  the  truth,  that  the  two  most 
essential  attributes  of  the  Divine  Nature  are  Goodness  and 
Truth,  or  Love  and  Wisdom. — Love  to  prompt  to  such  a  bene- 
ficent result, — Wisdom  to  arrange  the  means  for  its  production  ? 

God,  then,  most  certainly,  did  not  create  the  universe  from  the 
mere  love  of  glory,  which  would  be  the  love  of  Himself;  but 
from  that  genuine  love,  that  disinterested  benevolence,  which 
perpetually  desires  to  confer  blessings  on  others.  The  essence  of 
all  pure  and  disinterested  love  is,  to  love  others,  to  desire  to 
impart  to  them  of  what  is  one's  own,  and  to  contribute  to  their 
happiness  :  of  which,  degenerate  as  human  nature  now  is,  it  still 
is  capable  of  furnishing  us  with  striking  proofs.  I  will  take  an 
instance,  from  which  may  be  seen,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  pure  love 
of  our  Heavenly  Father  :  and  the  example  which  I  will  select  is 
that  of  parental  love ;  the  spontaneous  birth  of  which  in  the 
parent's  breast  is  alone  sufficient  to  demonstrate,  as  with  the 
light  of  a  sun-beam,  that  Love  is  the  most  essential  attribute  of 
that  Divine  Being,  from  whom  creation  originated,  and  by  whom 
it  is  preserved. 

The  helplessness  of  man  in  his  infant  state  is  proverbial. 
Unprovided  by  nature,  like  the  inferior  animals,  with  any 
clothing  to  guard  him  from  the  rigour  of  the  elements,  as 
well  as  incapable  of  procuring  any  sustenance,  his  birth  into 
this  world  must  be  presently  followed  by  his  departure  out  of  it, 
had  not  the  benevolent  Father  of  us  all  transfused  into  parents  a 
love,  that  emulates,  in  its  narrow  sphere,  his  boundless  love  to  his 
helpless  children.  As  it  is  on  its  mother's  care  that  the  infant 
is  more  immediately  dependant  for  the  supply  of  its  wants,  it  is 
in  her  breast  that  parental  love  most  powerfully  sheds  abroad  its 
sacred  fire.  Not  only  is  she  unremitting  in  the  discharge  of  all 
the  tender  duties  that  are  more  suitable  to  her  affectionate 
nature,  but  she  is  even  capable,  when  her  offspring  is  in  danger, 
of  forgetting  the  weakness  and  timidity  natural  to  her  sex  ;  and 
instances  are  on  record,  in  which  females,  endowed  for  the 
moment  with  a  preternatural  strength,  the  effect  of  ardent  love 
in  its  highest  state  of  excitement,  have  encountered  with  success> 


DIVINE  LOVE   THE  MOVING  CAUSE   OF  CREATION.  59 


in  defence  of  their  children,  the  ferocity  and  strength  of  the  wolf 
and  the  lion. 

Nor  is  it  to  the  human  race  alone  that  the  self-devotion  in- 
spired by  this  love  is  extended.  The  lower  orders  of  creation 
experience  it  in  a  degree  not  less  powerful  than  man :  the  only 
difference  is,  that,  with  them,  it  ceases  as  soon  as  their  offspring 
cease  to  require  their  assistance ;  whilst,  in  human  nature,  it 
seldom  terminates  but  with  life.  Accordingly,  when  under  its 
influence,  we  see  the  weakest  animals  contend  without  fear  with 
the  strongest ;  and  even  the  little  bird  will  give  all  the  annoyance 
in  her  power  to  the  cruel  spoiler  of  her  nest.  So  universal, 
indeed,  is  the  love  of  offspring,  that  its  dominion  is  not  confined 
to  gentle  breasts  alone  :  but  the  harshest  tempers  among  man- 
kind, and  the  most  ferocious  among  animals,  all  acknowledge  its 
influence.  The  reason  is,  because  Infinite  Love,  which  was  the 
moving  cause  of  creation,  also  provides  everything  that  is 
essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  things  created.  No  man  could 
live  an  instant  without  air  ;  accordingly,  there  is  no  place  on  the 
globe  from  which  air  is  excluded  :  and  no  infant  could  survive  its 
birth  without  parental  care  ;  accordingly,  there  is  no  breast  so 
savage  as  to  be  disinclined  to  afford  it. 

How  plain  then  is  the  evidence  which  the  universal  diffusion  of 
parental  love  bears  to  the  unbounded  nature  of  its  prototype, — 
Love  Divine !  It  is  nothing  but  the  most  universal  sphere  of 
Divine  Love,  emanating,  from  the  Lord,  that  infuses  this  prin- 
ciple, imitative  of  itself,  into  the  breasts  of  all  his  sentient 
creatures  :  and  in  it  He  writes  before  our  eyes,  in  characters  too 
strongly  marked  to  be  easily  mistaken,  the  truest  description  of 
his  own  nature.  Herein  He  declares  that  his  benevolence  is 
unbounded  ;  that  He  bears  a  regard  truly  paternal  to  all  his  ra- 
tional offspring.  How  then,  with  such  evidence  before  them, 
could  men  ever  dream  of  any  principle  other  than  disinterested 
Love  as  reigning  in  the  Divine  Essence  '?  How  is  it,  that  when 
they  were  assigning  other  motives  for  the  production  of  the  uni- 
verse, or  for  God's  dealings  with  men  upon  it,  they  were  not 
silenced  by  that  question  of  the  Lord,  drawn  from  the  uni- 
versality of  parental  love  :  "  If  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to 
give  good  gifts  to  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your 


GO 


LECTURE  IV. 


Father  who  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask 
him?" 

God,  then,  being  the  author  of  the  sublime,  self-devoting 
affection  known  by  the  name  of  parental  love  ; — that  love  being, 
in  fact,  nothing  but  an  emanation  from  his  own  inmost  nature  ; 
most  plain  it  is  that  He  must  be  love  universal  in  its  very 
essence  ;  and  that  all  the  communicating  beatifying  properties 
of  the  purest  love  must  exist  in  Him  in  the  most  inconceivable 
purity  and  ardour,  free  from  the  most  remote  possibility  of  con- 
tamination from  any  selfish  feeling,  any  self-regard.  Now  it  cer- 
tainly is  not  in  the  nature  of  genuine  love  to  abide  for  ever  alone  : 
and  here  is  the  moving  cause  of  creation.  Neither  could  such 
love  be  gratified  with  the  creation  either  of  inanimate  matter,  or 
of  brute  animals,  capable  indeed  of  a  sense  of  enjoyment  suited 
to  their  nature,  but  not  of  reflecting  upon  it,  or  of  connecting 
themselves,  by  a  reciprocal  affection,  with  the  Source  of  all 
good,  from  whom  all  they  enjoy,  with  their  faculties  for  en- 
joying it,  is  derived.  Love  desires  union  and  reciprocity  with 
the  objects  of  its  regard.  For  this,  a  higher  being  was  required, 
capable  of  feeling  his  Maker's  love  to  him,  and  returning  it: 
and  therefore  Man  was  created  in  God's  image  and  likeness  ;  or 
with  capacities  for  receiving  the  wisdom  and  love  of  his  Creator, 
and  of  ascribing  them  to  Him  from  whom  they  come. 

Nothing  then  but  the  pure  love  of  God  can  be  justly  assumed 
as  the  cause  of  the  creation  of  the  universe.  Every  inferior 
thing  in  the  universe  was  created  for  the  sake  of  man  ;  and  man 
was  created  that  God  might  have  an  object  in  which  his  love  might 
delight  itself, — in  whom  all  his  benevolent  desire  of  imparting 
happiness  might  be  gratified, — in  whom  He  might  dwell  for 
ever,  and  with  whom  He  might  unite  himself  in  the  commu- 
nication of  ineffable  joy,  in  the  eternal  regions  of  light,  life,  and 
love. 

Such  is  the  conclusion,  on  this  great  question,  both  of  reason 
and  Scripture ;  and  further  proofs  in  abundance,  could,  if  needful, 
easily  be  adduced.  One  is  afforded  by  the  passage  which  I  have 
adopted  as  a  text  for  this  Lecture.  It  is  part  of  the  sublime 
glorification  of  the  twenty-four  elders,  in  which  they  say,  "  Thou 
art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honour,  and  power : 


DIVINE   LOVE  THE  MOVING  CAUSE  OF  CREATION. 


61 


for  thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are, 
and  were  created.  We  have  already  noticed,  that  the  word 
here  translated  pleasure,  is  that,  in  the  original,  which  properly 
means  will; — "for  thy  will  they  are  and  were  created."  But 
what  is  God's  will,  or  pleasure  either,  but  his  love?  since  what- 
ever any  being  wills,  that  he  loves,  and  what  he  loves,  that  he 
wills  :  so  that,  when  it  is  said  that  all  things  were  created  for  his 
will,  it  is  the  same  thing  as  if  it  had  been  said  that  they  were 
created  for  his  love  ;  or,  that  his  love  was  the  moving  cause  of  all 
creation.  But  what  love?  the  love  of  himself!  the  desire  of  his 
own  glory !  Or  love  properly  so  called — that  pure,  genuine, 
disinterested  love,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a  finite  degree,  He 
requires  of  his  creatures, — the  love  which  does  good,  hoping  for 
nothing  again, — the  love,  of  which  that  of  tender  parents  is  a  de- 
rivation, a  form,  and  an  image?  The  latter,  most  undoubtedly. 
This  is  apparent  from  the  very  form  of  the  glorification  :  "  Thou 
art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honour,  and  power  : 
for  thou  has  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  wdl  they  are,  and 
were  created."  What  can  this  mean,  but  that  he  created  us  and 
all  things  out  of  pure  love — with  a  sole  view  to  the  good  of  the 
beings  created  ;  and  thus,  for  this  disinterested  display  of  love 
towards  us,  is  to  be  held  by  us  in  the  highest  honour,  reve- 
rence and  love  ;  which  it  were  impossible  to  feel  towards  Him, 
if  it  was  not  our  good,  but  solely  his  own  glory,  that  He  proposed 
in  our  creation. 

That  the  Lord's  will  is  pure  love,  is  evident  from  the  declara- 
tion of  the  Apostle  Paul,  when  he  says  (1  Tim.  ii.  4),  that  "  God 
will  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  to  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth ;"  where  will  have,^.ccord'mg  to  the  original,  is  simply 
willeth, — "God  willcth, — or  "  the  will  of  God  is,  that  all  men 
should  be  saved,  and  should  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth." 
To  the  same  effect  is  the  declaration  of  the  Apostle  Peter,  [2,  ii. 
9],  that  "  God  is  not  willing  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all 
should  come  to  repentance."  If  then  God's  will  or  desire  is, 
that  all  should  be  saved,  notwithstanding  their  having  fallen,  it 
doubtless  was  his  will  or  desire  that  all  should  enjoy  happiness 
when  first  he  created  them.  Consequently,  pure  love,  a  desire 
to  behold  intelligent  creatures  good  and  happy,  was  the  sole 


LECTURE  IV. 


motive  from  which  He  became  their  Creator.  This  was  his  will, 
"for  which  all  things  are,  and  were  created." 

If  we  believe,  as,  we  have  seen,  is  so  generally  supposed,  that 
God  created  man  for  his  own  glory  merely,  we  cannot  wonder 
if,  when  man  departed  from  his  duty,  God  fell  from  His  grace, 
as  theologians  have  expressed  it,  and  regarded  the  offender  with 
such  an  implacability  of  wrath,  as  required  such  means  to  allay 
it  as  the  same  theologians  describe  ;  being  such  as  could  only 
be  acceptable  to  a  Being  whose  ruling  motives  were  of  the  selfish 
character  involved  in  the  love  of  glory,  and  whose  nature  par- 
took more  of  anger  than  of  love ;  according  to  the  notion  con- 
sidered in  our  last  Lecture.  But  if  we  believe  that  love  was  the 
sole  motive  which  influenced  God  in  the  creation  of  man, — 
that  love  is,  indeed,  the  most  essential  attribute  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  to  work  out  the  ends  designed  by  which  all  the  others 
are  put  into  exercise ;  then  it  will  not  be  easy  to  imagine,  that 
when  man  departed  from  God,  God  in  resentment  departed 
from  him.  It  will  rather  be  expected  (what  the  whole  testi- 
mony of  the  Divine  Records  evinces  to  be  the  fact)  that  the 
same  love  which  created  man  for  happiness  at  first,  would  pro- 
vide the  means,  if  any  were  possible,  to  win  him  back,  after  he 
had  perversely  relinquished  his  birthright,  and  recover  him 
to  happiness  again.  The  unalterable  benevolence  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  unbounded  as  it  is,  cannot,  it  is  true,  impart  happiness 
to  man,  when  he  departs  from  the  path  in  which  alone  happi- 
ness is  to  be  found.  It  therefore  affords  no  encouragement  to 
man  to  pursue  his  vain  imaginations,  in  the  idle  expectation 
that  his  Maker's  love  will  not  regard  them,  or  can  impart  to 
him  happiness  after  he  has  renounced  the  company  of  the 
graces  with  which  alone  happiness  can  dwell.  It  is  only  in 
a  darkened  state  of  mind  that  man  can  dream  of  separating 
happiness  from  goodness,  or  fancy  that  he  can  retain  happiness 
when  he  turns  from  God  who  is  its  only  Source. 

But  not  to  resume  a  branch  of  the  subject  sufficiently,  per- 
haps, remarked  upon  in  our  last,  conclude  we  with  observing, 
that  as  God  is  Love  itself,  and  from  love  created  us,  it  is  plain 
that  love  has  always  been  the  motive  in  the  Divine  Mind  of 
all  his  dealings  with  us,  and  arrangements  respecting  us.  In 


DIVINE  LOVE  THE   MOVING  CAUSE  OF  CREATION.  63 


order  that  we  might  be  conscious  subjects  of  his  love,  not  un- 
conscious receptacles  of  his  bounties,  like  the  brute  beasts,  he 
created  us  free, — moral  agents,  accountable  for  our  use  of  the 
privileges  conferred  on  us.  Man  has  abused  this  greatest 
of  privileges — his  freedom, — and  has  fallen.  The  liability  to 
fall  was  unavoidable,  or  he  could  neither  have  been  made  a  ra- 
tional nor  an  immortal  creature — immortality,  rationality,  and 
liberty,  being  inseparable  companions.  But  degenerate  as  man 
has  thus  become,  the  Lord  has  never  ceased  to  desire  his  sal- 
vation. He  does,  and  has  done,  all  that  Infinite  Love,  united 
with  Infinite  Wisdom,  can  do  for  his  rescue.  He  follows  him 
in  his  degraded  state  with  fresh  overtures  of  mercy, — adapts 
his  aids  and  influences  to  his  condition,  pursues  him  through 
all  the  steps  of  his  declension ;  and  when  he  had  declined 
so  low  that  he  could  go  no  lower  without  ceasing  to  be  a  human 
being  at  all,  the  Lord  actually  assumed  the  human  nature,  that, 
by  combating  and  subduing  all  the  evils  with  which,  in  this 
state,  human  nature  was  defiled, — suffering  and  being  tempted, 
as  the  Apostle  affirms,  that  he  might  know  how  to  succour 
them  that  are  tempted,  He  became  a  Redeemer  and  Saviour. 
This  is  the  grand  climax  of  the  Lord's  divine  love,  the  second 
grand  display  of  that  Infinite  Love,  of  which  creation  was  the 
first.  This  we  shall  consider  in  future  Lectures.  Looking  unto 
Him,  as  the  Saviour  and  Redeemer,  we  may  recover  from  the 
ruins  of  the  fall,  and  may  attain,  through  the  Redemption 
wrought  for  us,  a  state  of  security,  superior  far  to  that  of  Adam 
at  his  first  creation.  And  the  way  to  realize  this  is,  to  walk 
in  the  path  in  which,  while  on  earth  He  walked  before  us  ; 
as  He  commanded,  to  follow  Him,  in  a  life  of  faith,  love,  and 
obedience;  to  be  imitators,  according  to  our  feeble  capacities,  of 
His  excellent  perfections  ;  and,  by  loving  and  cultivating  that  love 
and  good  which  He  most  essentially  is,  to  regain,  in  some  accept- 
able degree,  His  image  and  likeness  ;  when  we  shall  be  exalted 
to  dwell  with  Him,  our  gracious  Creator,  Saviour,  and  Prototype, 
in  glory  everlasting,  and  shall  ever  delight  in  adoring  that  Infinite 
Love,  which  was  the  moving  cause  of  our  creation. 


LECTURE  V. 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY,  BOTH  IN  ESSENCE  AND  PERSON,  OF  THE 
DIVINE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP  ;  AND  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINE 
OF  THE  TRINITY,  AS  BEING  IN  PERFECT  HARMONY  WITH  SUCH 
ABSOLUTE  UNITY. 


Mark  xii.  32,  (latter  part.) 
44  There  is  one  God,  and  there  is  none  other  but  He." 

Of  all  the  valuable  endowments  and  privileges  which  are  be- 
stowed on  man  by  creation,  this  is  the  most  precious,  and  the 
most  distinguishing : — that  he  is  capable  of  rising  to  the  con- 
templation of  God.  This,  perhaps,  may  not  at  first  sight  be 
obvious  to  all ;  but  yet  it  is  most  certainly  the  truth.  By  some, 
the  faculty  of  rationality  may  be  deemed  the  most  admirable, 
and  it  is  commonly  regarded  as  the  most  distinguishing,  of  hu- 
man endowments.  By  others,  the  gift  of  immortality,  with  the 
capacity  of  enjoying  eternal  happiness,  is  thought  the  most  excel- 
lent privilege  conferred  upon  man  by  creation.  Most  admirable, 
most  excellent,  most  highly  to  be  prized,  are,  certainly,  these  two 
extraordinary  privileges  attached  to  human  nature;  and,  most 
unquestionably,  they  all  are  distinguishing  ones,  also;  since, 
without  them  all,  man  would  not  be  man  :  Yet,  if  the  cause  is  to 
be  esteemed  higher  in  order,  and  thence  more  excellent  in  itself, 
than  the  effect,  the  possession  of  a  mind  which  is  capable  of 
rising  to  the  contemplation  of  God,  of  conceiving,  even,  the  bare 
idea  of  God,  is  an  endowment  more  excellent,  more  exalted, 
more  distinguishing  still :  for  it  is  from  this  capacity  that  man 
derives  the  faculty  of  rationality,  and  the  gift  of  immortality. 
It  was  a  truly  sagacious  observation  of  the  celebrated  founder  of 
Methodism,  that  the  proper  definition  of  man  is,  "  A  being  ca- 
pable of  God."    Because  man  is  capable  of  knowing  God, 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  65 

whether  he  ever  does  know  Him,  or  think  justly  respecting  Him, 
or  not,  he  possesses  the  endowment  of  rationality,  and  can  reason 
analytically,  and  draw  rational  conclusions,  respecting  all  other 
subjects  :  and  because  he  is  capable  of  loving  God,  and  of  being 
conjoined  or  united  with  Him  by  love,  whether  he  ever  does  enter 
into  such  connexion  with  Him,  or  not,  he  possesses  the  endow- 
ment of  immortality,  and  lives  for  ever. 

Man,  then,  having  the  capacity  of  rising  in  contemplation  to 
the  Author  of  his  being,  of  knowing  and  loving  his  God;  and 
this  being  also  the  most  excellent  of  all  the  high  endowments  of 
his  nature ;  is  he  to  let  so  eminently  distinguishing  a  faculty  lie 
dormant  within  him,  and,  as  if  he  were  born  a  mere  animal, 
which  has  not  the  power  of  thinking  of  its  Maker,  shun  the 
contemplation  of  that  subject,  to  which  he  alone  is  capable  of 
rising,  and  on  which  it  must  be  so  important  for  him  to  exer- 
cise the  faculties  with  which  he  is  endowed  for  that  very  pur- 
pose ?  If  he  has  the  capacity  of  knowing  his  God,  is  it  not 
most  important  that  he  should  conceive  of  Him  aright  ?  Is  he 
to  regard  the  knowledge  of  God  as  an  utterly  unfathomable 
mystery,  and  be  content  with  the  bare  acknowledgment  of  His 
existence,  without  attaching  to  it  any  ideas? 

The  knowledge  of  God,  or  the  things  to  be  known  respecting 
Him,  may  be  divided,  in  the  most  general  way,  into  two  branches, 
— the  one  comprising  such  truths  as  relate  to  his  nature,  and  the 
other  such  as  relate  to  his  person.  Respecting  his  Essential  Na- 
ture, we  engaged  in  an  inquiry  in  our  two  last  Lectures ;  in 
which  we  endeavoured  to  show,  that  He  is  Love  itself  and  Wisdom 
itself,  and  that  all  his  attributes  have  reference  to  these  as  the 
fundamental  and  universal  of  all.  Now  we  will  attempt  the  in- 
quiry respecting  his  Person,  and  consider  whether  the  attributes 
of  infinite  love  and  wisdom  which  constitute  his  nature,  belong 
solely  to  one  person,  or  are  divided  among  more.  More  ex- 
pressly, the  subject  of  the  present  Lecture  shall  be,  The  Absolute 
Unity,  both  in  Essence  and  Person,  of  the  Divine  Object  of  wor- 
ship :  and  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as  being  in  perfect 
harmony  with  such  Absolute  Unity.  Thus  our  present  subject 
relates  both  to  the  Person  and  to  the  Essence  of  Deity.  In 
affirming  his  Absolute  Unity,  we,  in  fact,  affirm  his  Indivisibility  ; 
6 


'66 


LECTURE  V. 


which,  if  it  exists  in  him  at  all,  is  one  of  the  attributes  of  his 
Essential  Nature. 

But,  before  proceeding  to  the  investigation  of  this  exalted  sub- 
ject, permit  me,  my  respected  friends,  to  solicit  your  candour, 
and  your  unprejudiced  consideration  of  what  I  may  be  enabled 
to  offer.  On  this  subject,  our  views,  which  we  most  sincerely 
believe  to  be  those  of  the  true  Christian  religion,  differ  very 
greatly  from  those  of  every  other  denomination  of  Christians  ex- 
isting in  the  present  day;  and  therefore,  if  any  judge  of  us,  not 
from  the  Word  of  God  itself,  and  the  corroborative  testimony  of 
reason,  but  from  any  preconceived  system,  the  decision  will  be 
unfavourable :  but  if  they  judge  of  us  from  the  evidence  of  Scrip- 
ture and  the  light  of  truth  itself,  we  think  we  have  no  cause  to 
fear  the  result.  It  is  my  wish  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  any : 
and  I  trust  no  lover  of  truth  will  take  offence  at  anything  I  may 
offer,  merely  because  it  differs  from  the  views  which  he  may  have 
entertained  before.  In  much  that  I  shall  lay  before  you,  I  also 
am  quite  sure  of  your  suffrages.  I  shall  perhaps  be  thought  to 
be  proving  points  so  plain  in  themselves  as  to  require  no  proof 
whatever ;  and  most,  perhaps  all  of  you,  will  think,  that  what  I 
am  saying  differs  in  nothing  from  what  you  have  always  believed. 
You  will  think,  also,  while  attending  to  great  part  of  this  Lec- 
ture, that  the  creed  or  articles  of  faith  of  your  respective  churches 
fully  accord  with  all  that  I  am  advancing.  I  know  that  they  do 
in  words ;  but  they  contain  other  sentiments  which  evince,  that 
those  words  were  not  intended,  by  the  framers  of  the  creeds,  to 
be  understood  in  the  strict  sense  which  the  truth  itself  requires. 
In  listening  to  our  sentiments,  as  well  as  in  considering  the 
views  of  others,  I  wish  you  to  be  on  your  guard  against  being  de- 
ceived :  but  I  trust  you  will  keep  your  eyes  and  minds  open  for 
the  discernment  and  admission  of  truth  and,  if  you  should  see 
the  truth  in  anything  that  I  may  offer,  that  you  will  not  be  dis- 
pleased with  it  for  coming  in  a  form  somewhat  different  from 
what  you  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  it  as  assuming.  And 
as  the  subject  is  of  vast  importance,  and  of  the  most  holy  as  well 
as  the  most  elevated  nature,  let  us  all  elevate  our  minds  to  the 
Father  of  lights,  and  endeavour  to  keep  them  in  such  a  state,  as 
that  He  can  be  near  us,  and  be  our  guide. 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  G7 


In  announcing  the  subject  of  this  Lecture,  as  being  on  The 
Absolute  Unity  both  in  Essence  and  Person,  of  the  Divine  Object 
of  worship,  I  felt  somewhat  apprehensive  lest  it  might  be  sup- 
posed, that  the  sentiments  to  be  offered  were  those  of  Unita- 
rianism  ;  and  it  was  to  guard  against  this  that  I  united  another 
subject  with  it,  and  proposed  to  treat  also  of  The  Scripture  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity.  It  is  not  our  wish  to  treat  either  Trini- 
tarians or  Unitarians  with  disrespect :  though,  we  think  they 
have  both,  in  very  different  ways,  departed  from  the  doctrines  of 
Divine  Truth.  But  each  party  has  framed  its  sentiments  with  a 
view  to  preserve  inviolate,  respectively,  one  most  important  Scrip- 
ture doctrine.  All  that  is  properly  implied  in  the  word  Unita- 
rianism,  which  is,  the  absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Essence  and 
Person,  and  all  that  is  properly  implied  in  the  word  Tri?iita- 
rianism,  which  is,  the  existence  of  a  Trinity  in  the  Divine  Nature, 
is,  we  believe,  equally  the  doctrine  of  the  True  Christian  Reli- 
gion :  but  the  parties  respectively  called  Unitarians  and  Trini- 
tarians have  each  mixed  these  truths  with  what,  we  believe,  is  not 
at  all  consistent  with  the  true  Christian  Religion.  To  establish 
the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Es- 
sence and  Person,  which  in  itself  is  most  true,  Unitarians,  as  we 
conceive,  have  violated  all  Scripture  truth,  by  denying  the  Di- 
vinity of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  To  establish  the  Scripture  doc- 
tines  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  a  trinity  in  the 
Divine  Nature,  also,  in  themselves,  most  true  Trinitarians,  as 
we  conceive,  have  departed  from  Scripture  truth  by  dividing  the 
Divine  Unity  among  three  separate  persons.  Now  each  of  these 
parties  cannot  but  be  aware,  that,  in  one  point,  when  brought  to 
the  touchstone  of  the  Word  of  God,  their  systems  are  very  weak. 
The  Unitarian  must  feel,  that,  in  denying  the  Divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ,  he  is  obliged  to  give  very  violent  explanations  of 
many  passages  of  Scripture,  and  to  expunge,  without  any  reason- 
able warrant,  various  .chapters  and  passages  from  the  Sacred 
Record.  The  Trinitarian,  again  must  be  conscious,  that,  in 
making  the  trinity  to  consist  of  three  separate  persons,  he  is 
sadly  annoyed  by  the  positiveness  of  the  passages  which  assert 
the  Divine  Unity,  and  is  contradicted  by  them  at  every  step. 
If,  then,  both  Unitarians  and  Trinitarians  could  be  presented 


<1S 


LECTURE  V. 


with  a  system  which  asserts  the  main  points  contended  for  by 
each  party,  free  from  the  difficulties  which  render  them  weak 
when  attacked  by  the  other,  they. surely  would  hail  it  as  a  most 
acceptable  relief.  Such  is  that  which  we  offer.  Our  system  of 
Scripture  doctrine,  is  pure  Trinitarianism,  though  not  that  held 
by  Trinitarians  in  general,  whom  I  would  rather  call  Triper- 
sonalists;  and  it  is  pure  Unitarianism  also,  though  quite  different 
from  that  held  by  Unitarians  in  general,  whom  I  would  rather 
call  Psilanthropists.  And  it  harmonizes  with  all  the  classes  of 
passages  on  both  subjects  contained  in  the  Word  of  God :  the 
whole  Bible  does  not  afford  one  text  which  our  system  does  not 
assume  and  explain-  If  these  statements  shall  appear  to*be  well 
founded,  then,  surely,  both  Trinitarians  and  Unitarians,  if  they 
are  at  the  same  time  lovers  of  truth,  may  receive  with  favour  the 
view,  presented.  And  as  the  view  which  we  accept  upon  the 
subject  as  that  of  the  True  Christian  Religion,  is,  at  the  same 
time,  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  purest  reason,  and  quite  re- 
moves the  contradiction  by  many  supposed  to  exist  between  the 
dictates  of  reason  and  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  the  Deist 
also,  so  far  as  his  objections  to  Christianity  only  arise  from  its 
imputed  variance  with  reason,  ought  to  view  it  with  approbation, 
and  to  acknowledge  that,  thus  exhibited,  all  plausible  objections 
to  the  truth  of  the  Christian  Religion  are  at  an  end. 

Such  is  what  we  promise.  Such,  we  most  entirely  believe,  is 
the  true  character  of  the  system  of  doctrine  respecting  the  Di- 
vine Being  and  Person  which  we  have  received.  Whether  it 
truly  deserves  this  character,  I  proceed,  as  far  as  my  feeble  abili- 
ties will  permit,  to  enable  you  to  judge  for  yourselves.  First, 
then,  I  propose  to  inquire,  what  is  the  evidence  of  Reason  on  the 
subject  of  The  Absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship. 
In  the  second  place,  we  will  examine  what  is,  upon  this  subject,  • 
the  testimony  of  Scripture.  And,  lastly,  we  will  state  what  we 
understand  to  be  The  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  show 
that  it  is  strictly  in  agreement  with  the  doctrine  of  the  most  Abso- 
lute Unity. 

With  respect  then  to  the  first  of  these  subjects — The  Absolute 
Unity  of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship  ; — or  The  Indivisible  One- 
ness of  the  Divine  Nature  and  Person.    This  great  truth  might 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  69 

be  concluded  from  this  circumstance  alone, — the  wonderful  unity 
of  design,  so  plainly  observable  throughout  the  universe  of  crea- 
tion, and  the  undeviating  regularity  with  which  all  the  parts  of 
the  great  machine,  move  in,  and  fill  up,  the  station  assigned 
them.  We  cannot  lift  our  thoughts  to  the  contemplation  of  the 
order  so  manifestly  evident  through  all  the  ranks  of  created 
existence,  from  the  immense  bodies,  which  under  the  name  of 
•  stars  and  planets,  but  which  in  reality  are  suns  and  earths,  per- 
form their  revolutions  through  the  boundless  plains  of  ether,  to 
the  minutest  species  of  moss  that  vegetates  on  the  mountains  of 
the  north, — or  even  to  the  grain  of  sand  which  fills  its  appointed 
place,  and  performs  its  destined  uses,  on  the  margin  of  the 
ocean, — without  feeling  that,  in  reason's  ear  they  not  only  per- 
petually exclaim,  "  The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine,"  but  that 
they  also  perpetually  declare,  "  We  all  obey  the  behests  of  One 
Presiding  Mind."  Even  under  the  darkness  of  heathenism, 
when  deities  of  different  ranks  we're  assigned  to  every  province  of 
nature  ;  when  not  only  one  superior  intelligence  was  supposed  to 
preside  over  the  sun  and  another  over  the  moon, — one  over  the 
air  and  another  over  the  ocean ; — but  when  the  taste  for  multi- 
plying objects  of  adoration  went  so  far,  that  every  rill  of  water 
had  its  Naiad  and  every  tree  of  the  forest  its  Dryad,  and  it  was 
supposed  to  be  necessary,  in  whatever  foreign  country  or  new 
town  or  district  men  might  visit,  to  pay  due  honor  to  the 
Genius  Loci — the  celestial  Guardian  of  the  place  ; — even  in  the 
midst  of  this  darkness  it  still  was  seen,  that  if  these  divinities 
were  upon  a  footing  of  equality, — if,  as  the  Athanasian  Creed 
affirms  of  its  three  Persons,  they  were  "  in  glory  equal,  in  majesty 
co-eternal," — the  utmost  confusion  must  unavoidably  be  the  con- 
sequence :  and  therefore,  amid  all  their  wanderings  from  the  dic- 
tates of  pure  Divine  Truth,  the  ancient  heathens  allowed  all  these 
to  be  merely  subordinate  in  their  functions,  and  acknowledged 
but  One  Supreme, — "  the  Father," — as  their  most  admired 
writers  denominate  their  Jove, — "  the  Father  of  gods  and  men." 

That  there  can  be  but  One  Presiding  Mind  to  regulate  the 
course  of  such  a  structure  as  the  universe,  and  that,  otherwise, 
the  preservation  of  the  whole  and  orderly  disposal  of  its  innu- 
merable parts  would  be  impossible, — is  evident  indeed  from  what 


TO 


LECTURE  V. 


we  see  to  be  the  case  with  the  inconsiderable  empires  and  states 
of  this  globe  ;  the  preservation  of  which  would  be  manifestly  im- 
practicable, if  each  of  them  were  placed  under  more  than  one 
governing  power.  In  some  states,  it  is  true,  the  government  is 
not  centered  in  a  single  individual :  yet,  even  in  the  most  popu- 
lar republic,  the  governing  power  is  but  one, — the  individuals 
who  compose  it  not  being  governors  singly,  but  only  in  their  col- 
lective capacity, — being  themselves,  as  individuals,  subject  to  the 
governing  power,  and  amenable  to  its  laws.  But  though  the 
government  may  thus  be  a  one,  and  capable,  in  consequence,  of 
upholding  the  state,  where  the  individuals  composing  it  are 
many  ;  still,  the  improvement  which  has  taken  place  in  political 
knowledge  has  long  convinced  even  the  most  strenuous  advocates 
for  liberty,  that  such  political  constitutions  have  generally  a  ten- 
dency to  fall  into  anarchy,  and  are  at  all  times  in  some  measure 
inadequate  to  the  purposes  of  an  efficient  government,  from  their 
inability  to  act  with  that  promptitude  which  sudden  emergencies 
require,  and  without  a  capacity  for  which  a  state  must  often  be 
exposed  to  destruction.  Hence,  in  the  freest  and  best  constituted 
governments  at  present  on  the  globe,  such  as  that  of  our  own 
country,  and  of  the  United  States  of  America,  it  has  been  found 
expedient  to  guard  against  the  evils  of  mere  democracy  by  giving 
a  head  to  the  government  itself  in  the  person  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual, whether  that  individual  be  denominated  a  President  or  a 
King.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  say  anything  in  favour  of  despotic 
power,  yet  it  is  impossible  for  the  most  uncompromising  enemy 
of  despotic  power  to  deny,  that  if  infallible  wisdom  and  incor- 
ruptible virtue  could  be  found  in  human  nature,  and  were  always 
inherent  in  the  possessor  of  a  throne,  then  absolute  monarchy 
would  be  the  most  perfect  of  governments.  It  is  only  because 
human  nature  is  always  weak,  and  too  generally  wicked,  that 
despotism  is  commonly  synonymous  with  tyranny.  It  is  only 
because  unbounded  power  is  usually  attended  with  a  disposition 
to  abuse  it,  and  always  with  inability  to  administer  it  with  perfect 
wisdom,  that  it  has  been  found  so  advantageous,  in  the  best  po- 
litical constitutions  to  limit  the  authority,  and  assist  the  under- 
standing, of  the  sovereign,  by  a  council  selected  from  the  people. 
It  is  demonstrable,  then,  that,  without  unity  in  the  govern- 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF   WORSHIP.  71 

merit,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  most  inconsiderable  state  could  not 
subsist:  It  is  equally  certain,  that,  for  the  subsistence  of  large 
states,  it  is  necessary  that  this  unity  should  be  very  closely  con- 
centrated :  How  then  can  it  be  imagined,  with  the  slightest 
plausibility,  that  such  a  government  as  that  of  the  universe  could 
be  carried  on  a  moment,  if  the  reins  of  it  were  held  by  more 
hands  than  one!  If  nothing  but  the  frailty  inseparable  from' a 
finite,  and  especially  from  a  fallen  creature,  prevents  the  govern- 
ment of  one  individual  from  being  the  most  perfect  on  earth,  can 
we  suppose  that  He  who  is  Infinite  in  himself  and  in  all  his  at- 
tributes,— infinite  in  goodness  and  in  wisdom  as  well  as  infinite 
in  power, — can  be  the  subject  of  deficiencies  requiring  to  be  sup- 
plied by  a  council  of  his  equals  ?  Well  may  the  Word  of  divine 
inspiration,  speaking  the  language  of  the  purest  reason,  reject 
such  an  imagination  as  in  the  highest  degree  absurd.  "  Who," 
says  Jehovah  by  his  prophet  Isaiah,  [ch.  xl.  13, 14,]  "  Who  hath 
directed  the  spirit  (that  is,  the  mind)  of  the  Lord"  ( — for  that  it 
is  Jehovah  himself  who  is  here  spoken  of,  and  not  any  Spirit  of 
God  as  a  distinct  person,  is  evident  from  the  whole  context : — 
"  Who  hath  directed  the  spirit  (or  mind)  of  the  Lord) '?  or,  being 
his  counsellor,  hath  taught  Him  ?  With  whom  took  he  counsel, 
and  who  instructed  Him,  and  taught  Him  in  the  path  of  judg- 
ment, and  showed  Him  the  way  of  understanding?"  Indeed, 
the  supposition  is  absurd  upon  another  account.  For  only  look 
at  this  obvious  truth.  If  there  were  more  Divine  Personal  Beings 
than  one  concerned  in  the  government  of  the  universe,  and  each 
took  a  share  in  the  counsels  necessary  for  this  purpose,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  neither  of  them  could  be  possessed  of  Infinite  wisdom. 
Infinite  wisdom  includes  all  wisdom  ;  which  cannot  possibly  be 
assisted  by  consultation  with  another.  If  neither  of  the  Divine 
Governors  possessed  infinite  wisdom  by  himself,  it  is  evident  that 
neither  could  they  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  infinite  wisdom  uni- 
tedly :  for  add  finite  to  finite  as  long  as  you  please,  and  the  sum 
of  the  whole  will  never  be  infinite,  nor  bear  any  proportion  to 
it.  '  Such  are  the  inconsistencies  into  which  men  must  ever  fall, 
when  they  depart  from  the  idea  of  unity  of  Person  in  the  Divine 
Being, — when  they  cease  to  regard  Him  as  an  Indivisible  One, 
in  Person  as  well  as  in  Essence. 


72 


LECTURE  V. 


Abundantly  more  considerations  of  this  nature,  drawn  from 
what  is  observable  in  the  order  of  created  things,  which  reason 
readily  discerns  to  be  true,  might  easily  be  offered :  but  we  for- 
bear'to  urge  them,  since  many  distrust  the  conclusions  of  reason 
on  such  subjects.  And  justly  do  they  distrust  them;  since,  as 
before  noticed,  what  is  called  the  light  of  nature,  is  by  no  means 
an  infallible  guide.  It  must,  however,  be  observed  at  the  same 
time,  that  reason  is  capable  of  being  enlightened  by  a  light  of  a 
higher  order  than  that  of  nature ;  since,  together  with  the  life 
which  continually  flows  into  man  from  the  Lord,  there  enters  a 
sort  of  internal  dictate  leading  to  the  acknowledgment  of  such 
truths  as  are  most  essential  to  salvation,  especially  that  great 
truth  of  all,  that  God  is  One.  This  is  a  truth  which  every  one, 
by  virtue  of  this  internal  dictate  from  heaven,  though  he  might 
not  have  discovered  it  himself,  acknowledges  as  soon  as  he  hears 
it,  unless  his  mind  has  previously  been  hardened,  and  rendered 
incapable  of  discerning  the  light  when  presented,  by  the  confirm- 
ation of  an  erroneous  belief:  and  it  is  from  this  cause  that  rea- 
son so  readily  admits,  and  can  so  strongly  confirm  it.  However, 
as  reason,  of  itself,  is  by  no  means  an  infallible  guide,  and  ought 
never  to  be  relied  on  in  matters  of  such  extreme  importance  as 
that  now  before  us,  unless  dictates  be  strengthened  by  the 
most  express  declarations  of  Holy  Writ,  we  will  turn  to  the 
second  branch  of  our  inquiry,  and  examine  what  is  the  testimony 
of  Scripture. 

It  might  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  impartial  mind,  that  the 
dictates  of  reason  and  the  declarations  of  Scripture  are  here  in 
perfect  unison,  only  to  notice  the  terms  in  which  God  himself 
commands  us  to  acknowledge  and  worship  him  in  the  first  com- 
mandment :  "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  : — thou  shaft  have  no  other 
gods  before  me."  How  is  this  to  be  understood  upon  the  suppo- 
sition of  there  being  more  Divine  Persons  than  one,  "  in  glory 
equal,  in  majesty  co-eternal  ?"  Are  we  (for  this  is  the  only  way 
in  which,  upon  such  a  supposition,  the  words  can  be  understood 
at  all : — Are  we)  to  conceive  that  all  the  three  Persons  are  here 
speaking  as  it  were  with  one  mouth,  so  that  when  we  are  pro- 
hibited from  worshipping  any  other  gods,  the  meaning  is,  any 
others  besides  these  three  ?    But  how  is  this  reconcilable  with  the 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF   WORSHIP.  73 


use  of  the  singular  personal  pronoun  in  both  its  cases — "  /  am 
the  Lord  thy  God  ; — thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  Me"? 
what  language  was  ever  known,  in  which  it  was  customary  to 
speak  of  a  plurality  of  persons  as  comprehended  in  the  pronoun 
I?  The  thought  that  there  can  here  be  any  allusion  to  more 
Divine  Persons  than  One,  or  that  more  persons  than  one  could 
announce  themselves  by  such  a  mode  of  speech,  could  never 
enter  the  conceptions  of  any  unsophisticated  mind.  Indeed,  the 
same  may  be  said  of  every  instance  in  which  the  Lord  solemnly 
communicates  himself  to  his  church,  in  this  direct  mode  of  ad- 
dress, throughout  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament :  It  is  al- 
ways "/the  Lord,"  that  is,  according  to  the  original,  "J  Jeho- 
vah." Indeed,  the  name  "  Jehovah,"  which  is  what  the  Lord 
constantly  takes  as  his  proper  name,  and  which  is  the  only  proper 
name  that  he  bears  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  a  noun  in  the  sin- 
gular number ;  which  would  be  a  solecism  indeed,  unless  ap- 
plied to  a  Being  of  the  most  absolute  indivisibility. 

But  probably  some  of  my  hearers,  who  are  acquainted  with 
what  the  defenders  of  a  Tripersonality  advance  in  support  of 
their  sentiments,  will  think  that  this  may  be  answered  by  the 
remark  so  often  urged  by  Trinitarian  writers,  that  although  the 
word  Jehovah,  here  used  in  the  orginal,  is  a  noun  in  the  singu- 
lar number,  the  word  Elohhn,  in  the  original,  which  is  what  we 
translate  God,  is  in  the  plural  number,  and  that  this  has  reference 
to  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity. 

To  this  it  may  be  briefly  replied,  That  the  Word  Elohim  is 
like  many  words  in  the  ancient  languages  which  have  no  singu- 
lar number,  and  in  which,  therefore,  though  the  form  is  plural, 
the  sense  may  be  either  singular  or  plural  as  the  context  re- 
quires. It  is  true  that  this  word  has  a  singular  form  ;  but  this 
occurs  very  seldom,  there  not  being  more  than  sixteen  instances 
of  it  in  the  whole  Bible,  if  we  exclude  the  book  of  Job,  the 
style  of  which  is  in  other  respects  very  different  from  that  of 
the  Jewish  Scriptures  ;  whilst  in  the  plural  form  it  is  used  not 
fewer  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  times  ;  and  very  learned 
Hebraists  have  concluded  from  this  circumstance,  that  originally 
it  had  no  singular  form  at  all,  and  that  the  singular  form  was 
introduced  in  the  few  cases  mentioned  to  adapt  it  to  the  metre, 


74 


LECTURE  V. 


it  being  always  in  parts  which  are  evidently  of  a  poetical  nature 
that  it  so  occurs.  But  if  the  circumstance  of  its  having  a  singu- 
lar form  in  the  few  instances  alluded  to  might  seem  to  render  it 
different  from  the  words  in  the  ancient  languages,  which,  though 
plural  in  form  are  singular  in  sense,  this  is  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  a  fact,  which  does  not  take  place  in  other  languages, 
in  which,  if  the  form  of  a  noun  be  plural,  though  the  sense  may 
be  singular,  the  verbs  and  other  parts  of  speech  dependent  on 
it  are  plural  also :  whereas  the  verbs  and  other  parts  of  speech 
dependent  on  the  word  Elohim,  and  which,  according  to  the  laws 
of  universal  grammar,  ought  to  agree  with  it  in  number,  are, 
except  in  a  very  few  instances  of  a  peculiar  nature,  invariably  in 
the  singular  number :  a  circumstance  which  demonstrates,  that, 
notwithstanding  the  plural  form  of  this  word,  the  meaning 
attached  to  it  is  singular.  In  the  second  place  this  follows  from 
the  circumstance,  that  it  is  often  used  in  cases  where  the  most 
devoted  Tripersonalist  must  allow  that  no  trinity  of  persons  is 
referred  to.  Thus  the  golden  calf  made  for  the  apostate  Israel- 
ites by  Aaron,  which  was  certainly  one  single  thing,  is  called  by 
him  their  Elohim.  The  case  is  the  same  with  Dagon  the  idol 
of  the  Philistines,  which  also  was  one  single  thing :  and  so  it  is 
said  of  Moses,  who  certainly  had  but  one  person,  that  he  should 
be  as  Elohim  to  Pharaoh ;  so  that  if  the  word  Elohim  has  any 
reference  to  a  Trinity,  it  could  be  to  no  other  kind  of  Trinity 
than  that  which  existed  in  Moses,  and  which  exists  in  every  in- 
dividual man.  If  the  word  be  allowed  to  have  a  plural  import, 
its  reference  certainly  must  be  to  the  boundless  infinitude  of  dis- 
tinct perfections  which  all  allow  to  have  a  place  in  the  Divine 
Nature :  but  it  must  ever  be  impossible  to  show  that  a  word 
which  at  most  only  conveys  a  general  idea  of  plurality,  can  have 
any  specific  application  to  a  trinity :  accordingly,  the  most  accom- 
plished masters  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and  amongst  them 
many  who  were  strongly  attached  to  the  tripersonal  doctrine,  in- 
cluding Calvin  himself, — have  allowed  that  it  is  futile  to  attempt 
to  deduce  that  doctrine  from  this  word.  None  can  have  recourse 
to  this  argument  but  such  as  either  know  little  of  Hebrew,  or 
are  so  sensible  of  the  weakness  of  the  sentiment  which  yet  they 
are  resolved  at  all  events  to  uphold,  as  to  catch  at  any  shadow  of 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  75 


an  argument  in  its  favour.  But  to  enter  into  a  lengthened  cri- 
tical disquisition  on  a  point  of  Hebrew  grammar  would  be  here 
out  of  place  :  otherwise  many  arguments  might  be  adduced  to 
show  that  the  form  of  this  word  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  doc- 
trine of  a  trinity  of  Persons.  But  without  any  such  critical  dis- 
quisition, surely  every  impartial  mind  must  feel,  that  some 
stronger  proof  than  a  mere  grammatical  nicety,  which  few  could 
understand,  would  be  requisite  to  convince  any  reasonable  person, 
that  /  and  Me,  in  the  first  commandment,  are  really  equivalent 
to  We  and  Us,  and  to  satisfy  the  mind  that  the  solemn  prohibi- 
tion here  given  of  the  worship  of  any  other  god  than  the  true 
one,  ought  not  to  have  been  accompanied  with  some  notice,  if 
the  fact  were  true,  that  "in  the  unity  of  the  Godhead  there  be 
three  persons."  Every  untutored  mind  must  unavoidably  con- 
ceive, that  three  separate  Divine  Persons  can  be  no  other  than 
three  separate  Gods  ;  and  that  the  worship  of  at  least  two  of 
them  must  be  forbidden  by  the  injunction,  "Thou  shalt  have  no 
other  gods  before  me." 

Proceed  we  then  to  notice  some  passages  in  which  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  strict  unity  of  the  Godhead  is  more  express 
still. 

What  can  be  more  exclusive  than  the  manner  in  which  the 
nature  of  God,  in  regard  to  his  Unity,  is  declared  in  the  com- 
mandment which  enforces  the  duty  of  loving  Him  above  all 
things;'  "Hear,  O  Israel,"  says  the  inspired  lawgiver;  "the 
Lord  thy  God  is  One  Lord."  Is  there  any  possible  ambiguity 
in  such  language  as  this  ?  If  there  were,  would  not  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  in  so  many  instances  explains  the  true  design 
of  the  Mosaic  laws,  have  guarded  against  the  misconception  of 
this,  when  a'direct  opportunity  presented  iiself  for  his  doing  so? 
And  yet,  when  asked  which  was  the  first  commandment  of  all, 
as  Mark  relates  the  history,  he  repeated  the  very  words  of  Moses, 
saying,  "  The  first  of  all  the  commandments  is,  Hear,  O  Israel ; 
the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  ;  and  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength."  Indeed,  in  the  Greek  of  the 
New  Testament  recording  the  words  of  our  Lord,  the  precept  is 
if  possible  less  liable  to  misinterpretation  than  in  the  Hebrew  of 


76 


LECTURE  V. 


Moses.  For  in  the  Hebrew,  the  word  for  God  is  here,  again, 
Elohim,  the  form  of  which,  whatever  the  sense  may  be,  is  plural, 
and  on  which  some,  as  we  have  noticed,  build  an  argument  for  the 
Trinity  of  Persons.  But  this  is  given  by  the  Lord,  or  by  the 
evangelist  writing  by  inspiration  from  Him,  by  the  common 
Greek  word  for  God — Theos  ;  which,  like  the  corresponding  word 
in  English,  is  in  the  singular  number.  It  were  strange  indeed, 
if  the  word  Elohim  really  involved  the  mysterious  meaning  so 
gratuitously  ascribed  to  it,  that  all  trace  of  it  should  disappear  on 
translating  it  into  Greek.  Thus  this  passage,  as  given  in  the 
New  Testament,  affords  so  demonstrative  a  proof  of  the  pure 
oneness  of  the  Divine  Being  as  is  open  to  no  evasion  whatsoever. 
The  scribe,  also,  to  whom  these  words  were  addressed  by  Jesus, 
repeated  them  after  him,  as  we  have  read  in  our  text,  with  more 
emphasis  still :  "  for  he  said  unto  him,  Well,  Master,  thou  hast 
said  the  truth  :  for  there  is  one  God,  and  there  is  none  other  but 
he :"  and  it  is  recorded  of  Jesus,  that,  so  far  from  disapproving 
of  this  statement  of  the  doctrine,  He  "  saw  that  he  answered 
discreetly."  Indeed,  this  is  the  doctrine  which  is  constantly 
taught  by  the  Lord  and  his  Apostles.  He  said  on  another  occa- 
sion, "  There  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is,  God."  Paul  declares 
repeatedly  that  "there  is  one  God  :"  and  James  says,  "  Thou  be- 
lieves! that  there  is  one  God :  thou  doest  well." 

The  same  great  truth  is  also  repeatedly  propounded  in  the 
negative  form.  Moses  says  to  Israel,  respecting  the  wonders 
wrought  by  the  Lord  in  Egypt,  [Deut.  iv.  34,]  "Unto  thee  it 
was  showed,  that  thou  mightest  know  that  the  Lord,  he  is  God  : 
there  is  none  beside  him:"  which  he  presently  repeats  in  this 
solemn  form  :  "  Know  therefore  this  day,  and  consider  it  in  thy 
heart,  that  the  Lord,  he  is  God,  in  heaven  above,  and  upon  the 
earth,  beneath :  there  is  none  else.''''  So  Hannah  says  in  her 
prayer,  [1  Sam.  ii.  2,]  "  There  is  none  holy  as  the  Lord  :  there  is 
none  beside  thee."  Solomon,  also,  in  his  dedication  prayer,  desires 
"  that  all  the  people  of  the  earth  may  know,  that  the  Lord  is 
God,  and  that  there  is  none  else"  But  with  what  majesty  does 
Jehovah  himself  declare  the  same  truth  by  his  prophet  Isaiah  ! 
[ch.  xlv.  5,  6,]  "I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else: — that 
they  may  know  from  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  from  the  west, 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  77 

that  there  is  none  beside  me.  I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none 
else."  Again,  [ver.  14  :]  "  They  shall  fall  down  unto  thee,  they 
shall  make  supplication  unto  thee,  saying,  Surely  God  is  in  thee, 
and  (here  is  none  else."  Again,  [ver.  18  :]  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
that  created  the  heavens,  God  himself  that  formed  the  earth 
and  made  it :  he  established  it,  he  created  it  not  in  vain,  he' 
formed  it  to  be  inhabited  :  I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else." 
Again,  [ver.  21,  22  :]  "  Who  hath  declared  this  from  ancient 
time  ?  have  not  I  the  Lorct  ?  and  there  is  no  God  else  beside  me  ; 
a  just  God  and  a  Saviour,  there  is  none  beside  me.  Look  unto 
me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  for  I  am  God, 
and  there  is  none  else."  Again,  [xlvi.  9 :]  "  Remember  the 
former  things  of  old  :  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else:  I  am 
God,  and  there  is  none  like  me."  The  like  assertions  are  made 
elsewhere,  with  a  little  variety  in  the  expression  ;  as  [xlii.  S,]  "I 
am  the  Lord  :  that  is  my  name  ;  and  my  glory  will  I  not  give 
to  another."  "  Before  me  there  was  no  God  formed,  neither 
shall  there  be  after  me  :  I,  even  I,  am  the  Lord  :  and  beside  me 
there  is  no  Saviour"  [xliii.  10,  11.]  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
the  King  of  Israel,  and  his  Redeemer,  the  Lord  of  hosts  ;  I  am 
the  first,  and  I  am  the  last ;  and  beside  me  there  is  no  God" 
[xliv.  G.]  "  Is  there  a  God  beside  me  ?  yea,  there  is  no  God  :  I 
know  not  any"  [ver.  3.]  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  thy  Redeemer, 
and  he  that  formed  thee  from  the  womb  :  I  am  the  Lord  that 
maketh  all  things,  that  stretcheth  forth  the  heavens  alone,  that 
spreadeth  abroad  the  earth  by  rnysclf,"  [ver.  25.]  We  have  be- 
fore seen,  that,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  by  this 
prophet,  there  is  no  participator  in  the  divine  counsels:  so  here 
we  see  that  there  is  no  participator  in  the  divine  works,  either  of 
creation  or  of  redemption.  Here  is  mention  of  the  different 
offices  which  the  Lord  performs  for  his  people  ;  but  no  mention 
of  a  parcelling  out  of  those  offices  among  different  Divine  Per- 
sons. Jehovah  declares  that  he  performs  the  whole — alone — by 
himself;  and  this  because  He  alone  is  the  God  of  heaven  and 
earth.  Can  testimony  be  more  express?  What  subtilties  can 
be  devised  to  overthrow  the  evidence  of  such  passages  as  these, 
and  to  make  us  conclude,  that  when  God  constantby  declares  that 
He  is  One,  we  are  to  interpret  that  One  to  mean  Three  ? 


73 


LECTURE  V. 


It  is  utterly  impossible  then,  we  surely  may  affirm,  to  under- 
stand the  testimony  now  adduced  in  any  other  way,  than  as 
inculcating  the  most  unequivocal  oneness  in  the  Divine  Nature ; 
and  as  being  utterly  incompatible  with  any  notion  of  a  Trinity 
which  requires  more  than  one  Person  to  contain  it.  I  know 
that  these  arguments  are  usually  met  by  passages  which  make 
mention  of  a  Divine  Trinity — riot  of  the  word,  indeed,  but  of  the 
thing, — of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit :  but  texts 
of  this  description  do  not,  in  reality,  impugn,  in  the  slightest  'de- 
gree, the  doctrine  of  those  which  I  have  now  been  quoting. 
The  New  Jerusalem  Church  by  no  means  disowns  the  truly 
Scriptural  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  in  the  Divine  Nature ;  since  it  is 
impossible  to  read  many  passages  of  the  New  Testament  without 
seeing  it  laid  down  in  the  most  incontrovertible  manner :  nor, 
where  we  so  plainly  find  the  thing,  are  we  disposed  to  quarrel 
with  the  convenient  term  which  has  been  invented  to  express  it. 
What  we  conceive  to  be  unscriptural,  is  the  notion  of  a  Trinity 
of  Persons  ;  which  we  cannot  find  either  mentioned  or  implied. 
When  Jesus  so  repeatedly  declares  that  the  Father  dwells  in  Him, 
reproves  any  inquiry  after  the  Father  out  of  Him,  and  so  plainly 
shows  by  the  significant  action  of  breathing  on  the  disciples, 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  divine  influence  Proceeding  from  Him  ; 
we  plainly  see  that  the  Divine  Trinity  centres  in  his  single  Glo- 
rified Person  :  and  until  we  can  suppose  that  one  Divine  Person 
can  actually  dwell  in  another,  and  a  third  issue  from  the  second  in 
the  shape  of  breath,  we  cannot  conclude  that  the  Trinity  of  the 
Scriptures  is  a  Trinity  of  Persons. 

Here  then  we  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  other  subject  pro- 
posed for  inquiry  in  this  Lecture,  which  is,  The  Scripture  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  as  being  in  perfect  harmony  with  that  of  the  Absolnte 
Unity.  Much,  however,  that  we  shall  have  to  offer  in  our  next 
Lecture  but  one,  and  in  some  of  the  subsequent  ones,  will  tend 
to  the  elucidation  of  this  important  doctrine  :  wherefore,  as  time 
also  demands,  a  few  observations  on  it  will  be  sufficient  for  the 
present.  As  observed  at  the  commencement,  I  connected  the 
question  of  the  Divine  Trinity  with  this  of  the  Absolute  Unity, 
lest  it  might  be  supposed,  from  the  bare  announcement  of  such 
a  subject,  that  the  Divine  Unity  to  be  contended  for  was  such  a 


THE  ABSOLUTE   I'NITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  79 

Unity  as  excludes  a  Trinity :  whereas  the  Unity  which  is  acknow- 
ledged by  the  doctrines  which  we  believe  to  be  those  of  the  true 
Christian  Religion,  is  such  a  Unity  as  comprehends  a  Trinity, 
and  the  God  whom  we  worship  is  properly,  we  glory  in  acknow- 
ledging, the  Triune  God. 

What  then  we  object  to,  and  what  we  invite  you  to  exercise 
your  best  rational  faculties,  enlightened  by  the  Word  of  God, 
in  deciding  upon,  is,  not  the  Trinity,  which  the  Scripture  un- 
questionably ascribes  to  God,  but  the  Tripcrsonalitij,  which  is 
now  here  ascribed  to  Him  but  in  creeds  of  mere  human  invention. 
It  is  possible  to  conceive  of  a  real  Trinity  as  existing  in  the  Di- 
vine Nature,  without  finding  the  subject  at  all  incomprehensible, 
or  its  being  even  involved  in  any  obscure  mystery  whatever  :  but 
to  conceive  of  three  separate  persons  as  existing  in  the  Divine 
Nature,  "each  of  whom  by  himself,"  as  the  Athanasian  Creed 
positively  declares,  is  God  and  Lord," — this  is  something  in- 
comprehensible,— this  is  a  mystery,  an  inextricable  mystery 
indeed. 

The  scholastic  definition  of  a  person  is,  "  An  individual  sub- 
stance of  a  rational  nature  ;"  and  by  a  substance  they  mean,  a 
being  capable  of  subsisting  by  itself.  According  to  this  defi- 
nition only  three  kinds  of  beings  can  properly  be  called  persons, 
because  only  three  kinds  of  beings  are  considered  to  have  a 
rational  nature  ;  and  these  are,  men,  angels,  God.  Applied 
then  to  the  first  of  these  orders  of  beings,  or  that  of  men,  three 
persons  are  three  men.  Applied  to  the  second  of  these  orders,  or 
that  of  angels,  three  persons  are  three  angels.  Applied  then  to 
the  third  order  of  these  beings,  which  is  God,  what  are  three 
persons  ?  It  is  indeed  incomprehensibility,  yea,  it  is  contra- 
diction itself,  to  say,  that  three  Divine  Persons  are  but  One  God. 
Well  may  they  who  maintain  this  proposition  have  recourse  to 
the  plea  of  mystery  :  well  may  they  say  it  is  a  subject  which 
human  reason  is  unable  to  know  or  understand  !  But  where 
is  the  sanction  for  this  plea  to  be  found  in  the  Word  of  God  ? 
Where  is  it  therein  declared  that  the  Doctrine  of  a  Trinity  in 
the  Divine  Nature  is  incomprehensible  ?  Where  is  it  even 
affirmed  that  the  Trinity  is  a  mystery?  Let  theologians  produce 
one  passage  to  this  effect,  and  we  will  allow  them  to  make  the 


LECTURE  V. 


mystery  as  intricate  and  as  incomprehensible  as  they  please : 
but  they  cannot  find  for  it  a  single  text  throughout  the  Bible. 
In  one  respect,  indeed,  the  knowledge  of  God  is  declared  to  be 
a  mystery.  "  Great,"  says  the  Apostle,  is  the  mystery  of  god- 
liness," [1  Tim.  hi.  16,]  meaning  by  godliness,  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  his  dealings  :  but  does  he  say  this  of  the  Trinity  of 
three  persons  in  One  God  ?  No  !  but  of  the  incarnation  of  the 
one  only  God  in  the  perso^  of  Jesus  Christ.  "Great,"  says  he, 
"  is  the  mystery  of  godliness  :  God  (God  himself,  mind,  the 
Only  God)  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  Spirit,  seen 
of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world, 
received  up  into  glory."  The  assumption  of  Humanity  by  God 
himself  may  justly  be  called  a  mystery, — miracle,  as  it  was,  of 
Divine  Goodness  and  power :  but  never  is  the  Trinity  in  the 
Divine  Nature  represented  as  a  mystery  :  and  if  it  were,  accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ  himself,  there  is  no  heavenly 
mystery  which  is  altogether  unrevealed  to  his  true  Church. 
"  To  you,"  saith  he  to  the  disciples,  "  it  is  given  to  know  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  God :  but  to  others,  in  parables, 
that  seeing  they  might  see  and  not  perceive,  and  hearing  they 
might  hear  and  not  understand."  How  can  one  remember  this 
divine  declaration  without  being  lost  in  astonishment  at  those, 
who,  calling  themselves  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  are  per- 
petually resorting  to  the  plea  of  mystery  to  cover  incompre- 
hensibilities which  none  but  themselves  have  created  ;  when  not 
understanding  is  designated  by  the  Lord  himself  as  a  mark  of 
those  who  are  without, — who  are  not  his  disciples. 

Suffice  it  then  at  present  to  say,  till  we  take  up  the  subject 
of  the  Trinity  again  in  our  following  Lectures,  that  a  certain 
key  to  its  true  nature  is  to  be  found  in  the  Scripture  record  of 
the  creation  of  man  :  for  he,  we  are  assured,  was  created  in  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God.  Has  man  then  three  persons?  No 
such  monster  was  ever  heard  of,  except  in  some  of  the  fictions  of 
the  heathen  mythology.  One  of  the  giants  said  to  have  been  slain 
by  Hercules  was  a  being  of  this  description  :  But,  most  certainly, 
no  man  was  ever  really  created  having  three  persons  :  yet  man, 
we  are  positively  assured,  was  created  in  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God.    The  Trinity,  then,  we  may  be  certain,  does  not  consist 


THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  OF  THE  OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP.  81 


of  three  separate  persons,  which  could  be  nothing  less  than  a 
trinity  of  three  separate  gods  ;  but  of  three  Essentials  of  the 
Divine  Nature  constituting  together  One  Person.  Man,  the 
image  of  God,  has  three  such  essentials  ;  which  are,  his  soul,  his 
body,  and  the  proceeding  influence  and  operation  exercised  by 
both  in  union.  These,  it  is  plain,  do  not  constitute  him  three 
persons,  but  one  ;  and  it  is  equally  evident  that  if  either  of  them 
were  taken  away,  he  could  not  be  a  human  being,  a  man,  at  all. 
It  is  true  that  the  material  body  is  laid  aside  at  death ;  but  the 
man  does  not  the  less  continue  to  exist  in  a  real  body,  though 
this  then  consists  of  spiritual  substance,  and  not  of  material,  as 
before — as  is  evident  from  the  case  of  Moses  and  Elias  seen  at 
the  Lord's  transfiguration  : — he  still,  likewise,  continues  to  pos- 
sess a  soul  within  his  outward  form,  as  before :  for  he  still  con- 
tinues to  have  will  and  thought,  or  a  mind  with  all  its  operations  : 
and  the  seat  of  these,  either  with  the  spiritual  or  the  material 
human  being,  is  not  in  the  outer  covering  or  body,  but  in  a 
hidden  soul  within.  So,  also,  he  still  continues  to  have  influence 
and  operation ;  though  the  scene  of  these  is  not  in  the  natural 
world,  as  before,  but  in  the  spiritual.  Thus  a  trinity  of  constit- 
uent principles  is  essential  to  man,  in  order  to  his  existing  as  a 
man,  in  every  stage  of  his  being  : — the  reason  is,  because  man 
is  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  ;  and  thus  possesses 
a  trinity  in  himself,  as  a  copy  of  that  which  exists  in  his  Maker. 
He  could  not  be  an  image  of  God,  unless  there  existed  in  him 
a  finite  resemblance  of  all  that  exists  infinitely  in  his  Maker : 
if  then  his  Maker  had  more  persons  than  One,  so  also  must 
man  :  if  man,  though  containing  a  trinity  in  himself  of  essential 
constituent  principles,  possesses  this  trinity  in  one  single  person, 
so,  also,  we  may  be  assured,  does  God. 

To  this  I  will  only  add  at  present,  that  though  a  person  has 
been  defined  by  the  schoolmen  and  theologians  of  the  middle 
ages  to  be  an  individual  substance,  or  being  subsisting  by  itself, 
of  a  rational  nature,  this  was  not  its  customary  meaning  when 
first  applied  to  the  distinctions  in  the  Divine  Nature.  Our  word 
person  is  taken  from  the  Latin  word  persona  ;  which  originally 
meant  nothing  but  the  mask  worn  by  the  ancient  actors  to  give 
them  an  expression  suited  to  the  nature  of  the  characters  they 
6 


82 


LECTURE  V. 


were  to  personate.  Thus,  when  used  figuratively,  the  word 
meant,  nota  separately  subsisting  being,  but  a  distinct  character : 
and  in  this  its  proper  sense  it  might  with  accuracy  be  applied  to 
such  a  Trinity  as  does  truly  exist  in  the  Divine  Object  of 
worship. 

In  what  has  now  been  attempted  to  be  set  before  you,  I  trust 
it  may  in  some  degree  have  been  made  manifest,  that  the  state- 
ment with  which  I  set  out  is  well-founded, — that  the  view  which 
we  receive  as  the  doctrine  of  the  True  Christian  Religion  upon 
the  important  subject  of  the  Divine  Unity  and  Trinity,  combines 
in  its  behalf  the  whole  testimony  of  Scripture,  at  the  same  time 
that  it  is  in  agreement  with  the  perceptions  of  the  purest  reason. 
According  as  this  is  its  real  character,  may  it  recommend  itself 
to  the  mind  of  every  sincere  lover  of  truth  and  goodness,  with 
whatsoever  denomination  of  religious  profession  he  may  hereto- 
fore have  been  connected  !  And  may  the  blessing  of  the  God 
of  all  truth  and  goodness  go  with  it,  sealing  it  to  the  eternal 
benefit  of  many  souls  !  I  will  only  add,  that  if  God  is  but  One, 
how  is  the  whole  theory  of  religion  simplified  !  If  we  have  only 
one  God  to  please,  what  can  we  have  to  do,  but  to  exercise  faith 
in  Him  as  revealed  to  us  in  his  Word,  and  to  comply  with  the 
commandments  which  he  has  there  delivered  for  our  guidance  ? 
And  to  what  do  these  amount?  What  does  the  Lord  our  God 
therein  require  of  us?  He  himself  has  asked  and  answered,  in 
that  brief  and  pathetic  declaration,  "What  does  the  Lord  require 
of  thee,  but  to  do  justice,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God  ?"  Himself  assumed  our  nature,  and  therein  ac- 
complished the  work  of  redemption,  to  enable  us  to  comply  with 
these  simple  requisitions  ;  and  if  we  look  to  Him,  and  act  ac- 
cordingly, He  will  assuredly  beatify  us  with  life  everlasting. 


LECTURE  VI. 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY,  AND  THE  DIVINE  FORM  OF  THE 
LORD  OUR  GOD. 


Gen.  i.  26. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness" 

The  contemplation  of  the  nature  of  our  Creator  Almighty,  as 
this  is  presented  to  us  in  the  only  way  in  which  we  could  hope 
to  obtain  any  adequate  conceptions  of  it,  even  as  revealed  by 
Himself  in  his  Holy  Word,  is  unquestionably,  the  highest  exer- 
cise of  the  human  mind  :  and  to  possess  right  ideas  respecting 
it,  is  of  the  most  momentous  importance  to  human  beings, — tc 
beings  who,  not  only,  like  all  other  creatures,  are  called  into  ex- 
istence by  him,  but  who,  differently  from  all  others,  are  destined 
to  live  to  eternity,  and  to  find  that  eternal  state  either  happy  or 
miserable,  according  as  we  have  conciliated  the  favour,  or  have 
neglected  to  do  so,  of  this  Omnipotent  Being.  There  is  no  re- 
lation which  a  man  can  have  with  any  of  his  fellow-creatures  so 
close  as  that  which  connects  him  with  the  Great  Author  of  his 
existence.  Neither  a  man's  human  parents,  nor  his  children, 
are  in  reality  so  near  to  him,  as  is  the  Almighty  Father  of  his 
being;  whose  child  he  is,  considered  merely  as  a  man;  and 
whose  child,  in  a  still  more  endearing  sense,  he  is  destined  to 
become,  if  he  fulfils  the  end  for  which  he  was  called  into  being. 
Well  then  may  it  be  said,  in  every  point  of  view,  whether  we 
regard  the  sublimity  of  the  subject  itself,  or  our  own  intimate 
connexion  with  it,  that  a  just  knowledge  of  our  God  is  the  highest 
attainment  which  the  human  mind  can  make,  and  ought  to  be 
sought  with  the  deepest  interest  by  every  rational  being.  In 
particular,  it  forms  the  first  link  in  the  whole  chain  of  theological 


84 


LECTURE  VI. 


truths,  which  all  depend  upon  this  as  their  chief,  and  which, 
without  this,  would  be  nothing. 

We  have  already  considered,  in  previous  Lectures,  the  Essen- 
tial Nature  of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship,  and  his  Absolute 
Unity  considered  in  connection  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity ; 
on  which  last  subject,  we  found  that  much  light  is  thrown  by  the 
passage  which  I  have  now  read  as  a  text.  But  before  we  pro- 
ceed to  answer  the  question  as  to  who  God  is,  another  important 
subject,  relating  to  his  Essential  Nature,  may  worthily  occupy 
our  attention. 

Among  the  more  universal  of  the  attributes  of  the  Divine 
Being  may  justly  be  reckoned  that  of  his  Personality — his  sus- 
taining the  character  which  we  unavoidably  think  of  when  we 
contemplate  Him  as  a  Person ;  that  is,  as  a  Being  that  exists 
distinctly  from  all  others,  and  with  a  consciousness  in  himself  of 
his  own  existence.  Herein  consists  the  grand  difference  between 
the  believers  in  Divine  Revelation,  or  those  who  thence  take  their 
conceptions  of  the  Divine  Nature,  and  many  who  are  called 
Deists,  with  all  classes  of  Atheists.  Some  Deists,  indeed,  do 
include  the  idea  of  Personality  in  their  conception  of  the  Divine 
Nature :  but  many  who  take  the  name,  exclude  from  their  idea 
of  God  every  attribute  from  which  he  can  be  viewed  as  a  Person, 
regarding  him  only  as  an  inmost  principle  of  life  pervading  all 
the  forms  of  nature,  imparting  life  to  all  things  which  possess 
that  attribute,  sustaining  the  existence  of  all  inanimate  objects 
likewise,  and  producing  all  the  effects  which  are  discoverable  in 
the  various  kingdoms  and  provinces  of  the  universe  ;  yet  not 
having  itself  a  distinctly  conscious  being,  or  any  consciousness 
whatever  separate  from  that  of  man  and  other  sentient  existences. 
They,  however,  who  claim  the  name  of  Deists,  or  believers  in 
God,  and  yet  retain  no  higher  an  idea  of  God  than  this,  are  justly 
to  be  classed  with  Atheists,  how  loudly  soever  they  may  disown 
the  title.  For  to  retain  the  name  of  God  and  yet  not  to  regard 
Him  as  a  Person, — not  to  allow  Him  a  distinct  and  proper  Per- 
sonality,— is  to  deny  Him  altogether :  it  is  to  make  Him  a 
mere  thing,  no  more  approaching  to  the  idea  involved  in  the  sa- 
cred word  "  God,"  than  the  air  surrounding  the  globe,  or  the 
gases  evolved  from  the  substances  in  its  bowels,  approach  to  the 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  LORD. 


SO 


idea  conveyed  by  the  term  "man."  A  God  who  is  not  most 
truly  a  person,  can  be  no  God  at  all. 

But  among  those  who  believe  God  to  be  something  more  than 
a  mere  unconscious  principle  of  life, — to  have  the  attribute  of 
conscious  existence,  and,  as  a  consequence  of  this  and  of  his  own 
Divine  Nature,  to  possess  the  attribute  of  Omniscience  also, — 
the  perfect  knowledge  of  all  things  which  exist,  and  of  which  he 
is  the  Author,  as  well  as  of  Himself, — there  is  still  no  small  con- 
fusion of  idea  respecting  the  nature  of  his  Personality.  That  He 
must  be  truly  a  Person,  all  believers  of  Revelation,  and  all 
worshippers  of  a  God  throughout  the  earth,  unanimously  confess  : 
but  then  many  (those  especially  who  regard  themselves  as  adepts 
in  philosophy)  while  they  admit  the  Divine  Being  to  be  a  Per- 
son,— a  distinctly  existing  conscious  being  of  a  rational  nature — 
refuse  to  allow  to  the  God  whom  they  thus  profess  to  worship,  and 
to  regard  as  a  Person,  any  sort  of  Divine  Personal  Form.  They 
allow  him  indeed  to  be  a  substance,  in  the  logical  sense  of  the 
word  ;  but  then,  for  fear  lest  this  substance  should  be  supposed 
to  partake  of  the  nature  of  materiality,  they  deny  it  to  have  any 
form.  Yet  it  is  a  most  certain  fact,  that  no  substance  can  exist 
which  is  not  at  the  same  time  a  form.  A  substance  without  a 
form,  though  it  may  be  thought  of  abstractedly  in  the  mind,  is, 
as  to  any  actual  existence,  a  mere  non-entity,  and  the  mind 
clearly  perceives  its  distinct  existence  to  be  impossible.  In 
short,  a  person  without  a  form,  is  as  certainly  no  person,  as  a 
God  who  is  not  a  Person  is  no  God.  In  order  that  God  (with 
reverence  be  it  spoken)  may  exist  as  a  Person,  and  thus  as  a 
really  existing  God,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  he  should 
exist  in  a  form.    Whatever  is  destitute  of  all  form,  is  nothing. 

I  propose,  then,  in  this  Lecture,  to  inquire,  what  is  the  dic- 
tate, both  of  Scripture  and  Reason,  on  this  important  subject — 
The  proper  Personality,  and  the  Divine  Form,  of  the  Lord  our 
God. 

Now  the  words  which  I  have  just  read,  with  what  is  added  in 
the  next  verse — "  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the 
image  of  God  created  he  him," — while  they  seem  more  imme- 
diately to  direct  our  attention  to  the  high  endowments  which 
man  possessed  by  creation,  do  also,  by  reflection,  as  it  were,  tend 


86 


LECTURE  VI. 


Co  impart  to  us,  as  much  perhaps  as  any  single  text  in  the  Bible, 
just  ideas  of  the  nature  of  man's  Creator.  I  have  before  applied 
this  remark  to  His  attributes  of  Love  and  Wisdom  ;  and  it  is  no 
less  true  with  respect  to  His  attribute  of  Personality. 

Of  the  Divine  Nature,  such  as  it  is  in  itself,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  we  cannot  know  anything.  God  is  infinite,  and 
man  is  finite ;  and  between  infinite  and  finite  there  exists  no 
proportion,  so  as  to  enable  the  finite  to  approximate  to  a  know- 
ledge of  the  Infinite,  such  as  it  is  in  itself.  All  that  we  can 
do,  is,  to  think  of  infinite  attributes  in  a  finite  manner ;  and  this 
we  do  by  exalting  the  most  perfect  qualities  of  finite  beings  to 
their  highest  conceivable  excellence,  and  then  assigning  them  to 
the  Divine  Being,  from  whom  they  all  are  derived,  with  the  ac- 
knowledgment that,  in  Him,  their  perfection  is  still  infinitely 
higher.  Without  this  help  to  our  conceiving  of  the  Divine 
Being,  we  could  not  conceive  of  Him  at  all ;  and  in  consequence 
of  rejecting  this  help,  many  who  thought  themselves  wiser  than 
those  who  use  it,  have  lost  all  idea  of  a  God,  and,  at  last,  have 
altogether  denied  his  existence.  And  we  are  justified  in  this 
mode  of  conceiving  of  the  Divine  Being  by  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  which  ascribes  to  God  all  the  perfections  which  we 
are  accustomed  to  think  of  as  belonging  to  the  excellent  of  the 
human  race,  and  even  mentions,  as  possessed  by  him,  the  human 
form,  with  all  the  parts  which  distinguish  that  form  in  man  : 
thus,  in  the  passage  read  as  a  text,  it  is  expressly  said,  that  man 
was  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God :  of  course  there 
Is  in  God  everything  that  there  is  in  man,  and  this  as  to  form 
also,  only  with  infinitely  greater  perfection. 

It  is  said  in  the  first  of  the  Articles  of  Religion  of  the  Church 
of  England,  that  God  is  a  being  "  without  body,  parts,  or  pas- 
sions :"  and  this  notion  is  commonly  received,  in  the  sense 
which  the  words  themselves  convey,  by  the  clergy,  not  only  of 
that  establishment,  but  of  all  the  sections  of  the  professing 
Church  ;  and,  indeed,  by  Deists  also,  and  by  all  who  think  to 
soar  above  the  vulgar  in  their  ideas  of  the  Person  of  God.  The 
Articles  of  Religion  of  the  Church  of  England  were  first  com- 
posed and  published  in  Latin  ;  and  it  was  not  till  about  ten  years 
afterwards  that  they  were  translated  into  English  ;  but  they  were 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  LORD. 


8? 


then  subscribed  in  both  languages  by  the  clergy  ;  whence,  as 
Bishop  Tomline  observes,  in  his  Elements  of  Christian  Theology, 
the  Latin  and  the  English  are  to  be  esteemed  as  equally  authen- 
tic. Yet  it  is  remarkable  that  the  English,  though  it  approaches 
near  to  the  Latin  in  the  sound  of  the  words,  differs  from  it  ex- 
ceedingly in  sense.  • 

The  Latin,  literally  translated,  would  say,  not  "  God  is  a  being 
without  body,  parts,  or  passions,"  but,  "  God  is  a  being  incor- 
poreal (incorporcus,)  indivisible  (impartibilis,)  and  incapable  of 
suffering  (impassibilis) :"  and  if  by  incorporeal  is  here  intended, 
as  may  be  fairly  presumed,  not,  without  body  or  personal  form 
of  any  kind,  but,  immaterial,  or  without  a  gross  material  body, 
there  could  be  no  objection  whatever  to  the  expressions :  the 
whole  would  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  truth. 

It  is  a  most  certain  fact  that  God  is  not  corporeal,  in  the 
.  sense  of  material :  He  is  an  immaterial  Being  ;  and,  though  not 
without  a  divine  substantial  personal  form,  yet  not  possessing  a 
body  of  such  grossness  as  our  material  bodies,  or  even  as  the 
spiritual  bodies  of  the  angels :  but  in  his  body,  as  in  all  things 
else,  though  having  something  analogous  to  the  same  in  human 
beings, — being  the  Prototype  of  which  they  are  the  images  and 
likenesses — He  must  infinitely  transcend  them  in  purity  and 
perfection. 

It  is  equally  certain  that  He  is  "indivisible'''  and  "incapable 
of  svffering:"  so  that  this  part  of  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of 
England,  as  composed  in  Latin,  is  in  indisputable  agreement 
with  the  truth. 

But  strange  to  say,  when  the  founders  of  the  Protestant 
Church  of  England  translated  this  part  of  their  Articles  into 
English,  they  selected  terms  which,  though  similar  in  sound  to 
the  Latin,  convey  totally  different  ideas  ;  and,  more  melancholy 
still,  it  is  from  the  English,  and  not  from  the  Latin,  that  stu- 
dents in  theology  usually  draw  their  sentiments.  When  the 
English  says  that  God  is  "without  body,"  it  totally  excludes 
the  idea  of  his  existing  in  any  form  whatever.  When  it  affirms, 
that  He  is  "without  parts,"  it  implies  that  He  is  destitute  of  all 
that  is  necessary  to  the  existence  of  any  animated  form.  And 
when  it  adds  that  he  is  "  without  passions,"  it  implies,  that  as 


88 


LECTURE  VI. 


he  is  without  body,  he  is  also  (what  indeed  is  an  inevitable  con- 
sequence) without  mind.  Mind  cannot  exist  independently  of  a 
form  in  and  by  which  to  exercise  its  functions :  and  the  passions 
are  the  affections  of  the  mind  ;  so  that,  where  there  are  none  of 
these,  neither  can  there  be  any  mind.  It  is  said  by  the  Apostle, 
that  'iGod  is  love."  Now  love  is  generally  called  a  passion  :  If 
then  God  is  absolutely  "  without  passions,"  He  is  without  love  : 
and  it  might  easily  be  shown,  that  whatever  existence  is  without 
love  is  without  conscious  life.  And  yet,  strange  to  say,  the  same 
Articles  which  affirm  God  to  be  "without  passions,"  ascribe  to 
Him  wrath  and  anger  ;  which  are  universally  allowed  to  be 
passions, — so  eminently  so,  that  when  we  see  a  person  strongly 
under  their  influence  we  say  that  he  is  "in  a  passion."  And, 
what  is  stranger  still,  these  passions,  ascribed  to  the  Divine 
Being  by  those  who  say  He  is  altogether  "without  passions," 
are  passions  of  any  but  a  heavenly  nature.  But,  not  to  push 
this  inconsistency,  it  is  evident,  that  they  who  deny  God  to  have 
either  body,  parts,  or  passions,  in  reality  deny  him  to  be  any 
thing !  From  such"  a  negative  idea  of  God,  the  transition  to  the 
negation  of  God  altogether  is  extremely  easy,  and  is  but  too  fre- 
quently made. 

If  God  is  considered,  by  those  who  give  us  these  definitions  of 
Him,  to  be  (what  He  in  reality  is)  Absolute  Mind, — an  Infinite 
Assemblage  of  mental  affections  and  perceptions  in  their  highest 
refinement  and  purity, — still  it  is  idle  to  think  of  mind,  or  of 
affections  and  perceptions,  without  a  subject,  in  which  they  can 
have  existence.  We  can  form  an  abstract  idea  of  sight  and  of 
hearing ;  yet  we  know  well  that  there  can  be  neither  sight  nor 
hearing  without  an  eye  or  ear  as  the  subject  of  them,  in  which 
they  have  existence.  The  divine  attributes  are  infinite  love, 
wisdom,  power,  and  the  like.  We  can  think  of  these  abstracted- 
ly, if  we  please  ;  yet  we  know  well,  that  they  can  have  no  exis- 
tence separate  from  a  subject  in  which  they  exist.  Such  a  sub- 
ject is  the  Divine  Person  of  God,  whose  personal  form  may 
properly  be  termed  his  body.  So,  again,  no  subject  can  exist 
without  being  a  substance  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  think  of  a  sub- 
stance without  assigning  to  it  some  form.  If  then  divine  love 
cannot  exist  separately  from  a  substance  which  is  its  subject,  and 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  LORD. 


89 


every  substance  must  necessarily  be  in  some  form,  what  form 
shall  we  ascribe  to  the  Divine  Being  but  the  most  perfect  of  all 
-forms,  which  is  the  human  ?  Accordingly,  it  is  true,  that,  with 
respect  even  to  form,  man  was  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of 
God:  and  it  is  only  by  considering  the  image  that  we  can  rise  to 
any  just  conception  of  the  Original.  So,  also,  whenever  Jeho- 
vah manifested  himself  to  the  ancient  Jews,  it  was  always  in  a 
human  form  :  and  so,  again,  it  was  in  the  human  form  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  as  we  shall  see  in  our  next  Lecture,  is 
the  Personal  manifestation  of  the  Divine  Being,  appeared  on 
earth  ;  and  in  the  same  form,  after  his  resurrection,  He  was  seen 
to  ascend  into  heaven. 

There  cannot  then  be  a  more  certain  truth  than  this  :  That 
the  Divine  Being  exists  in  a  form,  and  that  that  form  is  the 
human  ;  so  that  men  are  men  in  human  form,  not  by  virtue  of 
any  thing  that  they  possess  independently  in  themselves,  but 
because  they  were  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God. 
Thus,  also,  it  was  not  by  a  mere  poetical  license  that  a  celebrated 
writer  invented  the  phrase, — "  the  human  face  divine."  He 
only  spoke  from  the  common  perception  that  flows  from  heaven 
into  the  minds  of  all,  and  leads  them,  when  they  do  not  think  of 
the  subject  from  the  prejudices  of  human  learning,  to  conceive  of 
God  as  existing  in  a  human  form,  of  ineffable  glory  and  beauty. 

As,  however,  the  belief  that  the  Divine  Being  is  in  a  human 
form,  or  in  any  form,  is*  so  contrary  to  the  prejudices  of  many, 
we  will  go  a  little  further  into  the  proof  of  this  great  truth  ;  which 
I  conceive  to  be  capable  of  being  as  fully  established  by  argu- 
ment, and  as  clearly  seen  by  the  rational  faculty,  as  any  single 
truth  in  the  whole  compass  of  theology. 

Although  this  most  consoling  truth  is  inconsistent  with  the 
prejudices  of  the  learned,  and  therefore  is  too  inconsiderately 
rejected  by  most  of  them,  it  is,  nevertheless,  peculiarly  grateful 
and  acceptable  to  the  pious  and  simple-minded,  who  have  not 
destroyed  their  faculty  of  common  perception  by  reasonings 
drawn  from  the  fallacious  appearances  presented  by  the  outward 
senses ;  we  cannot  then  but  hope,  that,  from  among  persons  of 
this  character,  we  shall  find  many  favourers  of  the  pure  and  holy 
doctrine. 


90 


LECTURE  VI. 


Who,  when  he  thinks  of  God,  does  not,  upon  the  first  entrance 
of  the  thought,  present  him  to  the  mind's  eye  in  a  human  form, 
— though  he  conceives  that  form,  in  Him,  to  be  incomparably 
more  perfect  and  glorious  than  in  the  most  perfect  specimens  to 
be  found  of  it  besides,  whether  among  men  on  earth  or  angels 
in  heaven  ?  This  is  the  first  idea  of  God  which  presents  itself 
to  the  minds  of  all  who  have  not  much  reasoned  upon  the  sub- 
ject from  the  notions  of  science  imbibed  through  the  senses : 
and  even  to  those  who  have,  I  much  question  whether  the  same 
idea  does  not  still  occur  whenever  the  thought  of  God  enters 
their  minds,  until  the  idea  is  changed  by  an  after-thought, 
drawn  from  the  source  of  what  they  consider  to  be  reason  : 
which,  however,  is  not  properly  reason,  but  mere  reasom?io-,  from 
fallacious  notions  grounded  on  an  inadequate  conception  of  the 
nature  of  some  of  the  objects  of  sense.  The  whole  mistake  is 
owing  to  this — That  philosophers  have  not  generally  been  aware 
of  the  existence  of  any  substance  distinct  from  mere  matter. 
Hence,  as  it  is  certain  that  God  has  not  a  grossly  corporeal 
or  material  body,  they  have  rashly  concluded  that  He  has  no 
personal  form  whatever.  From  the  same  cause  have  originated 
all  the  mistakes  which  prevail  respecting  the  human  soul ;  with 
the  notion  entertained  by  many  of  the  learned,  though  it  seldom 
enters  the  thoughts  of  the  simple,  that  the  soul,  though  some- 
how capable  of  a  separate  existence  (though  even  this  is  denied 
by  many),  cannot  come,  after  death,  into  a  state  of  real  life,  till 
•it  is  re-united  to  its  decayed  body.  A  little  illustration  of  this 
point  will  go  far  in  assisting  us  to  come  to  a  right  conclusion  re- 
specting the  personal  form  of  the  Divine  Being. 

They  who  allow  to  the  soul  a  state  of  separate  existence  after 
the  death  of  the  material  body,  ought,  to  be  consistent  either 
with  reason,  Scripture,  or  common  sense,  to  allow  it  some  form; 
since  whatever  is  destitute  of  this  must  be  an  absolute  nothing. 
It  is  a  perception  of  this  truth  which  has  led  many  to  deny  to 
the  soul  any  existence  separate  from  the  material  body.  Con- 
scious that  that  which  has  no  form  or  body  cannot  be  any  thing, 
and  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  any  other  substance  than  matter, 
they  have  supposed  that,  stripped  of  its  material  vehicle,  the  soul 
can  have  no  existence.    But  admit  that  there  may  be  substance 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  LORD. 


91 


essentially  distinct  in  its  nature  from  matter,  and  then  you  may 
admit  that  the  soul,  being  such  a  substance,  may  exist,  and  be 
in  a  human  form,  independently  of  the  material  body. 

Matter,  it  is  usual  to  argue,  cannot  think :  But  the  soul 
thinks:  Therefore  the  soul  is  not  material.  This  is  sound  rea- 
soning :  but  it  does  not  follow  from  it  that  the  soul,  not  being 
material,  is  also  not  substantial,  or  has  no  substance  and  form 
proper  to  itself.  The  famous  proposition  of  Des  Cartes  may  be 
a  little  amplified  to  confirm  the  contrary.  He  says,  "  I  think  : 
therefore  I  am."  We  only  make  a  verbal  addition  really  in- 
cluded in  the  proposition  itself,  if  we  say,  "  I  think  :  therefore 
I  am  something."  Now  whatever  is  something — whatever  has 
an  actual  existence — must  either  be  itself  a  substance  or  exist 
in  a  substance  :  without  all  substance  it  would  be  nothing.  It 
therefore  follows,  that  the  soul,  which  is  what  thinks  in  us,  is,  as 
it  also  is  called  by  philosophers,  a  thinking  substance.  And  as 
thought  is  demonstrably  not  a  property  of  matter,  it  follows 
that  there  is  a  substance  totally  different  from  matter,  and  pos- 
sessing properties  of  which  matter  is  wholly  destitute.  If,  also, 
while  admitting  the  soul  to  be  a  thinking  substance,  we  do  not, 
with  many  who  make  this  admission,  deprive  substance  of  all  its 
essential  attributes,  we  must  allow  it  to  be  in  a  form  :  and  what 
form  shall  we  think  of  ascribing  to  the  human  soul  but  the  hu- 
man form  itself?  Thus,  separated  from  the  material  body  by 
death,  the  soul  of  man  will  be  the  man  himself,  the  same  in  form 
as  when  clothed  over  with  the  material  body  in  addition  :  though, 
by  reason  of  the  essentially  different  nature  of  the  substance, — 
the  thinking  substance  of  which  it  consists,  no  longer  capable  of 
being  perceived  by  the  senses  of  men  still  retaining  their  mate- 
rial body. 

If  then  the  soul  of  man,  which  is  the  spirit  that  lives  after 
death,  is  a  spiritual  substance  in  human  form  (as  also  is  clearly 
evident  from  the  numerous  instances  of  angels  and  spirits  re- 
corded in  the  Holy  Word  as  having  been  seen  by  men,  whose 
spiritual  senses  were  at  the  time  opened  for  the  purpose),  then 
it  may  be  easily  admitted,  also,  that  the  Divine  Being  himself 
may  likewise  be  a  substance  and  in  a  form.  The  substance, 
moreover,  of  which  his  Divine  Person  consists  must  be  infinitely 


92 


LECTURE  VI. 


farther  removed  from  being  subject  to  any  of  the  laws  of  matter, 
and,  of  course,  from  being  limited  by  space,  than  the  spiritual 
substance  which  composes  the  bodies  of  angels.  It  is  only  while 
in  the  world  of  nature  and  matter  that  even  human  beings  are 
limited  to  space :  when  we  depart  hence,  space  will  confine  us 
no  longer.  This  is  evident  from  the  sudden  manner  in  which 
angels  and  spirits  are  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  to  have  made 
their  appearance  ;  which  could  not  have  been  possible  had  they 
had  to  fly  to  the  persons  who  beheld  them  from  some  remote  re- 
gion in  space,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  material  universe.  And 
if  spirits  and  angels  are  thus  unconfined  by  the  trammels  of  space 
and  time,  much  more  must  He,  by  whom  both  space  and  time 
were  created,  be  independent  of  their  limitations.  It  is  perfectly 
easy,  and  that  in  agreement  with  all  true  philosophy,  to  conceive 
of  the  Divine  Being  as  existing  in  a  human  form,  if  we  conceive 
of  a  substance  infinitely  transcending  in  its  properties  the  utmost 
refinement  of  which  matter  is  capable,  and  altogether  free  from 
the  imperfections  which  from  matter  are  inseparable.  The  Di- 
vine Being  does  really  exist  in  such  a  Divine  Personal  Form  :  and 
thus  it  is  literally  true,  that  in  the  image  of  God  made  he  man. 

The  fact  then  is,  that  all  persons  of  simple  unsophisticated 
minds,  when  they  contemplate  the  Divine  Being,  have  ideas 
like  these  respecting  Him,  by  virtue  of  a  common  perception 
flowing  from  God  himself  into  the  minds  of  those  who  do  not 
reject  and  pervert  it.  All  such  think  of  him  as  a  Divine  Being 
in  a  transcendently  glorious  Human  Form.  Hence,  also,  those 
of  all  nations  who  have  ever  attempted  to  give  a  representation 
of  God  in  sculpture  or  painting,  have  always  represented  Him 
in  a  human  form. 

Persons,  however,  we  see,  who  think  themselves  wiser  than 
others,  are  apt  to  reject  the  idea  which  flows  into  the  minds  of 
all  from  common  perception,  as  low  and  unworthy  of  the  subject. 
Having  thus  rejected,  as  applicable  to  the  Divine  Being,  the 
most  noble  of  all  forms,  they  have  none  left  to  assign  Him  ;  and 
thus  they  discard  the  idea  of  form  altogether,  and  affirm  that  the 
Almighty  can  have  no  personal  form  whatever ;  which,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  is  the  same  thing  as  to  deny  Him  to  be  any- 
thing.   Another  reason  for  their  rejecting  the  idea  of  form  is, 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  LORD. 


93 


because  they  think  of  form  solely  from  ideas  connected  with 
space.  If  God  is  in  a  form,  they  argue,  He  must  be  limited  ; 
and  this  is  incompatible  with  the  idea  of  his  infinity.  The  truth 
however  is,  that  the  notion  entertained  by  many,  that  He  is  iden- 
tified with  boundless  space,  is  much  more  limited :  because,  if 
he  were  really  diffused  through  space  so  as  to  have  anything  in 
common  with  it,  he  must  indeed  be  in  part  every  where,  but 
wholly  no  where.  In  thinking  of  Him  justly,  we  must  conceive 
Him  to  be  present,  indeed,  in  every  portion  of  space,  and  yet  to 
have  nothing  of  space  belonging  to  Himself;  and  then  we  shall 
obtain  an  idea  of  his  omnipresence,  and  conceive  of  Him  as  being 
every  where  present  with  all  his  divine  perfections.  His  Omni- 
presence will  form  no  obstacle  to  the  belief  of  his  being  in  a 
human  form,  if  his  body,  like  all  his  divine  attributes,  be  con- 
sidered as  divine.  Although  angelic  beings  are  not  supposed  to 
be  omnipresent,  yet  it  is  readily  admitted  that  they  can  in  a  mo- 
ment be  present  where  they  please,  they  not  being'limited  to  a 
fixed  portion  of  space,  as  men  are.  Carry  this  idea  further,  by 
adding  the  notion  of  infinity,  and  it  will  easily  be  admitted  that 
the  Divine  Being  may  be  in  a  human  form,  and  yet  be  present 
every  where,  in  every  moment  of  time,  without  change  of  place ; 
He  being  altogether  above,  and  independent  of  its  limitations. 

Many  passages  of  Scripture  prove  the  truth  of  the  view  now 
offered.  When  Jesus  appeared  to  John,  as  related  in  Rev.  i.,  it 
was  not  affected  by  his  coming  from  some  other  place  to  the  place 
where  John  was,  but  by  opening  the  spiritual  sight  of  John  to  be- 
hold him  in  the  place  where  John  was,  and  where  the  Lord  equally 
was  before  John  saw  Him,  and  after,  as  while  the  manifestation 
continued :  wherefore  John  does  not  say  that  the  Lord  came  to  him, 
but  says  of  himself,  "I  was  in  the  spirit:"  of  course,  the  eyes  of  his 
spirit  were  open  ;  and  the  consequence  was,  he  saw  the  Lord  in 
a  Divine  Human  Form. 

The  case  was  the  same  when  Jesus  stood  in  the  midst  of  the 
disciples,  when  they  were  assembled  in  a  room  with  the  doors 
shut,  after  his  resurrection.  This  was  not  affected  by  his  coming 
from  one  place  to  another,  but  by  opening  their  spiritual  sight ; 
upon  which,  He,  as  being  present  every  where,  immediately  be- 
came visible. 


94 


LECTURE  VI. 


On  another  occasion,  when  his  disappearing  is  related,  it  is  not 
said  that  he  went  away,  but  that  he  vanished  out  of  their  sight  ; 
the  cause  of  which  was,  because  their  spiritual  sight,  which  had 
previously  been  opened,  was  suddenly  closed,  so  that  they  no 
longer  could  see  the  Lord,  though  He  was  no  more  absent  than 
when  they  did  see  Him.  To  enable  men  to  see  Him,  nothing  is 
requisite  but  a  proper  state  in  them,  let  them  be  where  they  may. 

Let  none,  then,  think  degradingly  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or 
suppose  it  impossible  that  He  can  be  God  Himself,  from  the  cir- 
cumstance of  his  returning  to  his  heavenly  glory  in  the  body 
with  which  He  rose  from  the  tomb ;  or  suppose  that  He  cannot, 
as  to  the  very  body,  be  every  where  present.  His  body,  when 
he  arose,  was  no  longer  the  same  as  to  substance,  as  that  which 
at  first  was  taken  from  the  human  mother,  and  afterwards  sup- 
ported by  natural  nourishment :  for,  during  his  abode  in  the 
world,  and  finally  at  the  resurrection,  as  will  be  shown  in  a  sub- 
sequent Lecture,  He  glorified,  or  made  Divine,  his  whole  natural 
principle,  putting  off  all  that  was  taken  from  created  substances, 
and  putting  on  divine  substance,  brought  forth  from  within,  in 
its  place  ;  so  that,  at  his  resurrection,  his  very  body  was  wholly 
divine,  though  still  in  human  form.  Having  thus  no  longer 
appertaining  to  it  any  of  the  properties  of  matter,  it  now,  though 
real  and  substantial,  is  entirely  independent  of  space,  and  retains 
its  human  form  without  being  subject  to  any  of  the  laws  of 
matter  and  motion.  In  his  Divine  Human  Form,  then,  He  is 
eternally  present,  not  only  in  the  spiritual  world,  above  which  is 
his  more  immediate  residence,  but  in  the  natural  world  also,  up- 
holding every  thing  every  where  :  whereas,  could  He  be  really 
absent  from  any  created  thing  a  single  instant,  that  very  instant 
such  thing  would  drop  into  annihilation. 

Most  true  then  it  is,  even  in  the  literal  sense,  that  man  was 
created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God.  As  God  is  the  Origin 
and  Prototype  of  all  that  is  truly  human  in  man,  so  is  He  also  of 
his  form,  allowed  to  be  the  most  perfect  that  imagination  can 
conceive.  All  is  a  transcript  from  a  Divine  Original ;  and  were 
it  not  for  the  blemishes  that  sin  has  introduced,  man  would  still 
reflect,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  image  of  his  Maker.  It  is  true  that, 
even  in  his  highest  state  of  perfection,  man,  as  a  finite  being, 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  LORD. 


95 


was  but  an  imperfect  copy ;  yet  the  imperfection  of  the  resem- 
blance could  not  prevent  it  from  being  really  a  copy,  and  as 
exact  a  one  as  the  unavoidable  inadequacy  of  created  materials 
would  admit. 

As,  however,  I  have  chiefly  enforced  the  fact  of  man's  being  an 
image  of  his  Maker  as  to  form,  and  thus  endeavoured  to  prove 
that  the  Lord  is  a  man  in  form,  from  the  examples  afforded  by 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  born  a  man  in  the  world,  it  may 
be  objected,  that,  nevertheless,  Jehovah  from  eternity  might  not 
have  been  in  that  form.  To  this  I  would  reply, — Man  is  called  an 
image  and  likeness  of  God  before  the  Lord  became  Incarnate  ; 
proving,  that  the  Lord  did  not  first  assume  the  human  form  at  the 
incarnation,  but  had  existed  in  it  from  eternity.  Besides,  Jehovah 
is  continually  spoken  of,  throughout  the  Old  Testament,  as  having 
all  the  members  of  the  human  form ;  and  though  what  is  thus 
said  refers  to  spiritual  things  as  well  as  natural,  every  member  of 
the  human  form  being  a  corresponding  emblem  of  some  spiritual 
and  divine  perfection, — as  the  eye  of  the  understanding,  the  nos- 
trils of  perception,  &c, — still,  since,  as  we  have  before  seen,  sight 
cannot  exist  without  an  eye,  nor  smell  without  nostrils,  so  neither 
can  mental  qualities,  such  as  understanding  and  perception,  exist 
without  an  organized  form  in  which  to  dwell  as  their  subject. 
Deprive  them  of  a  suitable  form,  and  }*ou  reduce  them  to  nothing. 
And  the  proper  form  of  Love  and  Wisdom,  which  are  the  first 
Essentials  of  the  Divine  Nature,  is  the  human, — both  in  their 
Origin — God,  and  their  recipient  subject — man. 

The  fact  then  is,  that  before  the  incarnation,  God  was  a 
Divine  Man  in  first  principles,  answering  to  the  state  in  which 
angels  exist  in  their  world,  who  also  are  men  in  human  form,  but 
without  the  outer  covering  of  the  natural  body  ;  whereas,  after 
the  incarnation,  God  became  a  Man  in  last  principles  also, 
answering  to  the  state  of  a  man  in  the  world.  But  in  neither 
state  was  he  a  mere  spiritual  or  a  mere  natural  man  ;  but  in  both 
a  Divine  Substantial  Man. 

Other  arguments  tending  to  confirm  this  great  truth,  that  man 
was  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  as  to  his  body  as 
well  as  in  respect  to  his  mind,  might  easily  be  offered.  I  will 
only  mention  one. 


9C 


LECTURE  VI. 


Avery  powerful  evidence  of  the  truth  is  afforded  in  the  strong 
tendency  to  the  human  form  observable  among  all  the  subjects 
of  the  animal  kingdom,  and  even,  though  more  remotely,  among 
all  the  subjects  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  also.  Those  animals 
which  differ  most  in  their  external  shape  from  man,  have  never- 
theless most  of  the  organs  which  are  found  in  the  human  body  ; 
especially  all  those  which  are  most  essential  to  life  ;  though  all 
existing  with  endless  varieties.  All  have  heads,  bodies,  feet ; 
and  in  their  heads,  eyes,  noses,  mouths,  ears ;  and  in  their 
bodies,  hearts,  lungs,  and  the  other  viscera.  As  the  animal 
descends  in  the  scale  of  existence,  the  resemblance  becomes 
more  imperfect :  yet  the  principal  organs  are  retained  through 
most  of  the  genera  and  species ;  and  where  these  cease,  their 
places  are  supplied  by  something  analogous,  which  performs  their 
office  in  a  manner  suited  to  the  animal's  nature.  Vegetables, 
also,  circulate  sap,  through  vessels  answering  to  arteries  and 
veins,  from  their  root,  which  answers  to  the  heart ;  and  they 
inhale  and  respire  air,  through  pores  in  their  leaves,  which  perform 
for  them  the  office  of  lungs.  ^ 

In  short,  it  may  be  said,  that  all  the  lower  objects  of  the  crea- 
tion, do,  in  a  certain  image,  represent  man  :  an  analogy  which 
could  never  have  existed,  did  not  man  himself,  in  a  certain  image, 
represent  the  Lord.  Thus,  through  man,  all  the  objects  in  the 
universe  of  creation  point  to  the  Lord  as  a  Divine  Man.  If  the 
Creator  himself  were  not  in  human  form,  this  tendency  to  that 
form  observable  in  all  his  works  would  be  most  unaccountable. 
In  the  lower  created  beings,  the  tendency  to  this  form  exists, 
but  not  the  form  itself.  In  man,  the  form  itself  is  displayed : 
the  reason  is,  because  "  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him." 

Enough  may  now  have  been  advanced  from  our  text,  considered 
in  its  most  obvious  and  literal  sense,  as  pointing  out  the  origin  of 
the  human  form  in  man.  The  ideas  which  are  thus  presented  to 
us  of  the  Divine  Being,  are  certainly  such  as,  if  affectionately 
embraced,  are  adapted  to  be  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  us,  in 
our  intercourse  with  Him.  Whilst  we  regard  him  as  an  inde- 
finable somewhat,  diffused  without  form  through  the  immensity 
of  space,  the  mind  is  utterly  lost  and  distracted  when  it  wishes 


THE  PROPER  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  LORD. 


97 


to  approach  Him  :  it  knows  not  where  to  seek  Him  :  and  it 
inwardly  feels,  whatever  it  may  outwardly  profess,  that  such  a 
God  is  a  shadowy  nothing.  But  when  we  regard  Him  as  the 
aggregate  of  all  perfection  concentrated  in  a  Divine  Human 
Form,  we  present  to  our  mental  sight  an  Object  on  which  the 
eye  of  faith  can  rest  with  assurance  and  delight.  We  have  a 
really  existing  Object  of  worship, — a  God  capable  of  being 
approached  and  adored  :  and  we  exchange  towards  Him  the 
sentiment  of  ignorant  wonder  for  that  of  rational  admiration 
and  devotion.  When  also  we  view  this  Divine  Person  as  being 
wholly  present  every  where,  being  subject  to  no  limitations  of 
space  or  distance,  we  lose  the  sense  of  remoteness  which  must 
ever  attend  the  idea  of  an  impersonal  God.  We  feel  assured 
that  he  is  indeed  ever  near  to  us,  and  that,  whenever  we  seek 
Him  in  sincerity,  He  is  at  hand  to  assist  us. 

Let  us,  then,  brethren,  avail  ourselves  of  the  advantages  which 
this  idea  of  our  God  so  certainly  carries  with  it.  Let  us  turn  to 
Him  with  our  whole  heart ;  and  he  will  repair  the  ravages  which 
the  entrance  of  sin  into  the  world  has  made  in  our  nature  :  and, 
as  we  still  retain  some  traces  in  our  outward  form  of  our  Divine 
Original,  He  will  likewise  spiritually  create  us  anew  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God. 


7 


LECTURE  VII. 


THAT  THE  DIVINE  NAME,  JESUS  CHRIST,  IS  THE  NAME  OF  JE- 
HOVAH IN  HIS  HUMANITY  :  AND  THAT  THIS  IS  THE  ONE  GOD, 
IN  WHOSE  DIVINE  PERSON  THE  WHOLE  TRINITY  CENTRES. 


Rev.  i.  17,  18. 

"  And  when  I  saw  him,  I  fell  at  his  feet  as  dead.  And  he  laid  his 
right  hand  wpon  me,  saying  unto  me,  Fear  not ;  I  am  the  First 
and  the  Last:  I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead;  and,  behold,  1 
am  alive  for  evermore,  Amen  ;  and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of 
death." 

In  addressing  you  this  evening,  my  friends  and  brethren,  upon 
one  of  the  most  important  of  the  doctrines  which  we  believe  to 
be  those  of  the  True  Christian  Religion, — yea,  of  the  Christian 
Religion  as  it  was,  according  to  prophecy,  to  be  restored  to  its 
purity,  under  a  dispensation  of  it  prefigured  under  the  symbol 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,  I  again  have  to  solicit  your  most  candid 
and  serious  attention.  The  views  which  we  are  the  humble  in- 
struments of  offering  to  the  public  on  the  most  momentous  of 
subjects,  are,  I  acknowledge,  almost  entirely  new  to  the  religious 
world  :  but  is  it  not  time,  we  would  ask,  when  all  other  sciences 
are  abounding  with  new  discoveries,  which  have  totally  changed 
their  aspect  from  that  which  they  wore  but  a  few  years  ago, 
that  something  should  arise  in  religion,  which  should  enable  it 
to  keep  pace  with  the  advancing  intelligence  of  the  age,  and 
prevent  it  from  being  left  behind,  as  to  the  doctrinal  part  of  it, 
as  presenting  no  satisfaction  to  the  well-informed  mind, — as 
exhibiting  only  views  of  truth  suited  to  the  darkness  of  what 
are  emphatically  called  the  dark  ages,  originating,  in  great  part, 
in  the  dreary  period  of  Roman  Catholic  domination,  and  only 
a  little  altered,  without  being  much  improved,  by  the  leaders  of 


THE  NAME  OF  JEHOVAH  IN  HIS  HUMANITY. 


0') 


the  Reformation, — men  whose  minds  had  themselves  been  form- 
ed under  the  influence  of  the  darkness  which  they  in  part  at- 
tempted to  dispel?  Infidelity,  either  total  or  partial,  is  in  the  pre- 
sent day  making  rapid  progress  :  surely  then  it  is  time  that  Chris- 
tianity should  be  presented  in  a  form  less  capable  of  receiving 
injury  from  its  attacks.  The  great  strong  hold  of  infidelity  is 
the  prevailing  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  :  surely  then  it  is  time  that 
this  important  doctrine  should  assume  a  less  mysterious  aspect, 
and  be  presented  in  a  form  which  shall  not  obviously  contra- 
dict the  perceptions  of  reason.  It  is  the  common  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  which  has  occasioned  the  great  increase  of  Unita- 
rianism.  Conscious  that  the  persuasion  of  three  Divine  Persons 
constituting  but  one  God  could  not  withstand  the  scrutiny  of 
reason,  numbers  have  fled  as  a  refuge  to  Unitarianism.  But 
here  they  find  themselves  far  from  being  secure  :  for  Deists 
regard  their  surrender  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a 
homage  to  the  superior  rationality  of  the  doctrines  of  mere 
Deism  ;  and  they  consider  that,  to  be  consistent,  they  must  come 
over  quite,  by  abandoning  all  regard  for  the  Scriptures,  since 
the  Scriptures  do  most  unquestionably,  as  even  Deists  can 
discern,  ascribe  Divinity  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  cele- 
brated Dr.  Priestley  addressed  a  publication  to  the  Jews,  telling 
them  that,  as  he  and  those  who  thought  with  him  had  abandoned 
the  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  regarding  him  only 
as  a  mere  man,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the  Jews  from 
becoming  Christians  upon  the  Unitarian  principle  :  to  which  his 
Jewish  answerer  replied,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Jews  ever 
to  become  Unitarians,  since,  if  they  were  to  receive  the  New- 
Testament  at  all,  they  must  acknowledge  the  doctrine  which  it  so 
plainly  inculcates  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  he  ex- 
pressed great  surprise  that  Dr.  Priestley  could  deny  this  doctrine, 
while  he  professed  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  New 
Testament.  Most  certainly,  no  doctrine  professing  to  be 
grounded  on  the  Scripture  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
will  ever  satisfy  impartial  persons,  which  does  not  acknowledge 
the  Divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  no  doctrine  will 
ever  satisfy  men  of  reason,  which  only  admits  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  splitting  asunder 


100 


LECTURE  VII. 


the  indivisible  unity  of  the  Divine  Essence,  and  apportioning  it 
among  three  separate  persons,  of  whom  He  is  one.  It  is  be- 
cause our  doctrines  at  once  avoid  both  this  Scylla  and  this 
Charybdis,  that  we  regard  them  as  the  only  ones  which  raise  an 
impregnable  barrier  against  the  devastations  of  infidelity,  and 
that  we  invite  to  them  the  unprejudiced  attention  of  all  to  whom 
either  reason  or  religion  are  objects  of  regard. 

In  my  Lecture  of  the  last  Lord's  day  evening  but  one,  I  endea- 
voured to  establish  the  fact,  of  the  absolute  Oneness,  both  in  Es- 
sence and  Person,  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship,  and  to  show 
that  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  in  the  most  perfect 
agreement  with  such  Absolute  Unity.  That  this  is  the  dictate 
of  reason,  it  was  easy  enough  to  demonstrate ;  for  every  person 
possessed  of  reason  must  see  in  a  moment,  that  the  universe 
could  neither  have  been  created,  nor  sustained,  such  as  we 
behold  it,  one  uniform  whole,  unless  it  owed  both  its  creation 
and  its  preservation  to  one  Creator  and  Governor.  What  would 
become  of  this  earth,  and  of  the  other  planets,  if  they  did  not 
look  to  one  sun  as  their  centre,  by  whose  heat  and  light  they 
are  kept  in  a  state  capable  of  bringing  forth  and  perfecting  their 
vegetable  and  animal  offspring, — whose  attraction  they  feel,  keep- 
ing them  in  their  regular  courses,  and  around  which  they  per- 
pepetually  revolve  ?  What  the  sun  is  to  the  earth  and  its  pro- 
ductions, God  is  to  the  soul ;  and  in  vain  could  it  be  imagined 
that  human  minds  could  exist,  except  they  were  called  into 
being  by  one  Source  of  Good.  The  sun,  also,  is  the  most 
obvious  symbol  in  nature  of  its  Divine  Original :  and  as  there 
is  one  sun  to  a  system  of  earths,  so  must  there  be  one  Creator 
of  the  sun  and  earths  together.  It  i3  true  that  the  visible  uni- 
verse presents  to  our  contemplation  innumerable  suns,  each  of 
which,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  has  its  system  of  earths  :  but  it  is 
obvious  that  all  the  suns  together,  which  we  call  stars,  innu- 
merable as  they  are,  form  but  one  great  system  of  the  universe : 
and  thus  they  all  point  to  one  God  as  their  Creator,  of  whom 
each  is  the  material  representative  to  its  dependent  system  of 
earths,  and  from  whose  unity  it  is  that  they  are  all  combined  into 
one  grand  whole.  It  is  impossible  therefore  to  open  our  eyes 
to  the  universe  of  nature,  if  we  open  at  the  same  time  the  eyes 


THE   NAME  OF  JEHOVAH  IN  HIS  HUMANITY. 


101 


of  our  minds,  without  hearing  the  whole,  and  every  part,  conti- 
nually proclaiming  the  Absolute  Unity,  both  in  Essence  and 
Person,  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship. 

What  is  thus  so  clearly  testified  by  reason,  is,  we  have  seen,  in 
the  most  decided  terms,  declared  by  Scripture ;  which,  while  it 
gives,  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  as  its  first  commandment,  the 
precept,  "Thou  shall  have  no  other  gods  before  me,"  reiterates 
throughout,  in  every  variety  of  form,  the  continually  sounding 
declaration  of  Jehovah,  "I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else." 

Nevertheless,  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  Scriptures  do  reveal  a 
Trinity  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  But  from  the  premises 
it  follows,  that  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  cannot  be 
repugnant  to  its  obvious  doctrine  of  the  absolute  Unity ;  and 
hence  we  have  seen  that  the  Scripture  Trinity  cannot  be  a 
Trinity  of  persons,  as  the  word  person  has  been  defined  by  the 
prevailing  school  of  theologians,  as  being  an  individual  substance 
of  a  rational  nature  ;  though  this,  we  noticed,  was  not  the  mean- 
ing of  the  term  "person,"  when  first  it  was  introduced  into  the 
language  of  theology.  Man,  however,  we  have  observed,  is 
expressly  declared  to  have  been  created  in  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God ;  a  declaration  which  assures  us,  that  whatever  is  the 
nature  of  the  Trinity  existing  in  God,  there  is  an  image  of  it 
in  man.  If  the  Divine  Being  has  three  persons,  man  must  have 
three  persons ;  if  man  has  not  three  persons,  so  neither,  we  may 
assume  as  certain,  has  God,  since  He  created  man  after  his  own 
image.  Man,  however,  we  have  seen,  is  truly  a  threefold  being. 
He  has  a  soul,  he  has  a  body,  and  he  exercises,  from  both  in 
union,  an  influence  and  operation  on  persons  and  things  around 
him  :  and  this,  we  have  shown,  must  be  an  image  and  copy  of 
the  Trinity  in  the  Lord.  Thus  the  Father  is  the  inmost  Divine 
Essence  answering  to  the  soul  in  man  ;  the  Son  is  the  divine 
form  or  person  manifesting  the  existence  of  the  divine  Essence ; 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  outflowing  life,  the  proceeding  ope- 
ration, acting  upon  rational  and  created  subjects. 

These  important  points  having  been  established  in  our  last 
Lecture  but  one,  we  last  Lord's  day  evening,  endeavoured  to 
show,  that  this  Triune  God  possesses  most  strictly  the  attribute 
of  Personality,  and  exists  in  a  Divine  Human  Form  ;  in  which 


102  LECTURE  VII. 

respect,  also,  the  words  of  inspiration  speak  the  plain  truth  when 
they  declare,  that  man  was  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of 
God.  Upon  the  present  occasion,  we  will  come  more  closely  to 
the  consideration  of  the  question,  Who  is  God? — The  answer  to 
which,  indeed,  we  before  have  indicated,  but  have  not  pro- 
ceeded regularly  to  prove.  This  is  to  be  the  object  of  our  present 
Lecture ;  in  which  we  will  endeavour  to  show,  That  the  Divine 
Name,  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  name  of  Jehovah  in  his  Humanity  ;  and 
that  this  is  the  One  God,  in  whose  Divine  Person  the  whole 
Trinity  centres. 

This  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  importance  that  all  theology 
can  furnish ; — to  know,  since  there  is  but  One  God,  who  that 
God  is.  As  the  Lord  himself  said  to  the  Jews,  "  What  think 
ye  of  Christ?  whose  son  is  he?"  And  when  they  answered, 
"The  Son  of  David,"  he  rejoins,  "How  then  doth  David  in 
spirit  call  him  Lord,  saying,  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit 
thou  on  my  right  hand,  till  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool? 
If  David  then  call  him  Lord,  how  is  he  his  son?  The  Jews 
could  not  answer  the  question,  because  they  had  no  conception  that 
he  who  was  called,  from  the  mode  of  his  appearing  in  the  world, 
the  Son  of  David,  and  of  whom  they  had  no  other  idea  than  as 
of  a  great  temporal  prince,  was,  nevertheless,  a  being  to  whom 
David  owed  allegiance  as  his  Lord ;  was,  in  fact,  a  being  who 
possessed  the  prerogatives  of  Divinity  :  yet  this,  Jesus,  the  true 
Son  of  David,  plainly  intimated  by  his  significant  questions. 
If  then  Jesus,  the  divinely  predicted  Son  of  David,  is  Lord,  or  a 
Divine  Being,  and  there  cannot  be  two  Lords  or  Divine  Beings, 
what  can  He  be  but  the  one  Lord  clothed  with  Humanity,  for 
the  purpose  of  communicating  Himself  in  an  accommodated  and 
receptible  manner  to  mankind  ? 

There  are  many  serious  investigations  connected  with  this 
momentous  subject:  wherefore  we  mean  to  carry  it  on  in  two  or 
three  following  Lectures.  At  present  we  will  confine  ourselves 
to  the  investigation,  chiefly,  of  that  part  of  the  Scripture  evidence 
respecting  it,  which  is  contained  in  the  chapter  of  our  text. 
Difficulties  and  objections,  I  know,  will  arise  in  the  minds  of 
some  :  but  I  entreat  them  not  to  allow  these  to  withdraw  their 
attention  from  the  positive  evidence  that  may  be  offered.  All 


THE  NAME  OF  JEHOVAH  IN  HIS  HUMANITY. 


103 


the  chief  objections  that  can  be  raised  will  be  noticed  and  an- 
swered, if  not  in  the  present,  in  subsequent  Lectures. 

A  glorious  being,  whom  John  knew  to  be  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  reveals  himself  to  this  beloved  disciple.  "  And  when  I 
saw  him,"  says  he  to  whom  the  revelation  was  made,  "  I  fell  at 
his  feet  as  dead.  And  he  laid  his  right  hand  upon  me,  saying 
unto  me,  Fear  not :  I  am  the  First  and  the  Last:  (I  am)  he  that 
liveth,  and  was  dead ;  and  behold,  I  am  alive  for  ever  more, 
Amen  ;  and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death."  How  magni- 
ficent are  these  declarations !  And  they  contain  lessons  of  the 
deepest  and  most  momentous  wisdom,  capable  of  opening  the  eyes 
of  the  blind,  and  unstopping  the  ears  of  the  deaf.  Nothing  can  be 
of  more  importance  to  man,  than  to  know  to  whom  he  must  go 
that  he  may  have  eternal  life, — to  whom  he  must  apply  that  he 
may  escape  eternal  death :  and  this  knowledge  is  most  plainly 
communicated  in  the  words  before  us.  They  are  spoken,  we  see, 
by  Jesus  Christ :  He  it  is  that  saith,  "  I  am  the  First  and  the 
Last."  These  expressions  alone  convey  to  the  mind,  in  the  most 
powerful  manner,  the  idea  of  sole,  supreme,  and  exclusive  Divinity, 
in  Him  who  utters  them.  Can  any  thing  be  before  the  First,  or 
beyond  the  Last?  Impossible!  He  then  who  is  entitled  to 
declare  this  of  Himself,  must  be  the  All  in  all — the  Origin  and 
Sustainer  of  all  things.  It  is  in  vain  to  reason,  as  some  do,  that 
the  word  God  is  applicable  to  other  beings  besWe  the  Supreme 
God,  and  that  therefore,  when  applied,  as  it  unquestionably  is 
applied,  to  Jesus  Christ,  it  does  not  prove  Him  to  be  the  Supreme 
God : — it  is  in  vain,  I  say,  to  urge  this  as  an  argument,  even 
were  it  as  true  as  it  is  otherwise,  whilst  He  assumes,  besides,  a 
title  so  full  of  Infinity,  so  absolutely  exclusive,  as  this:  "lam 
the  First  and  the  Last." 

If  then  we  confine  our  attention  to  the  mere  force  of  these 
divine  words  alone  ;  and  were  they  used  in  no  other  passage  but 
this  throughout  the  Scriptures  ;  the  inference  would  be  unavoida- 
ble, that  He  who  utters  them  is  the  Supreme  and  Only  God. 
But  they  occur  again  in  the  second  chapter  of  this  book  ;  where 
the  same  Divine  Speaker  says  to  the  Church  of  Smyrna,  "  I  am 
the  First  and  the  Last ;" — and  again  in  the  last  chapter,  where 
the  same  speaker  says,  "  I  am  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 


104 


LECTURE  VII. 


Beginning  and  the  End,  the  First  and  the  Last ;" — and  also,  a 
few  verses  before  in  this  first  chapter,  where  the  Divine  Author 
of  this  prophecy,  before  he  had  discovered  Himself  to  the 
spiritual  eye  of  John,  had  been  heard  by  him  saying,  "  1  am 
Alpha  and  Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  Ending,  saith  the 
Lord,  which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come,  the 
Almighty  ;" — and  once  more,  a  verse  or  two  further,  "  I  am 
Alpha  and  Omega,  the  First  and  the  Last."  But  this  is  not  all : 
these  incommunicable  names  of  Deity,  thus  frequently  assumed 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  repeatedly  used  by  Jehovah  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  in  the  Old  Testament,  to  describe  his 
majesty,  and  sole  Divinity,  as  the  Great  Author  of  all.  "  Who 
hath  wrought,"  saith  he,  by  Isaiah  [ch.  xli.  4,]  "  calling  the  gene- 
rations from  the  beginning?  I,  Jehovah"  (for  so  it  is  in  the 
original)  "  the  First,  and  with  the  Last ;  I  am  He."  So  again, 
still  speaking  in  his  character  of  Creator,  He  says,  in  chap,  xlviii. 
12,  13,  "  Hearken  unto  me,  O  Jacob,  and  Israel,  my  called  :  I 
am  He  :  I  am  the  First,  I  also  am  the  Last :  My  hand  also  hath 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and  my  right  hand  hath 
spanned  the  heavens."  And  again,  in  his  character  of  Redeemer, 
and  as  the  Only  God,  he  thus  speaks  in  ch.  xliv.  6  :  "  Thus  saith 
Jehovah,  the  king  of  Israel,  and  his  Redeemer,  Jehovah  of  hosts: 
I  am  the  First,  and  I  am  the  Last ;  and  beside  me  there  is  no 
God."  Who  then  can  He  be  that  says  in  our  text,  "  I  am  the 
First  and  the  Last,"  but  he  who  takes  the  same  title  in  Isaiah, 
and  there  declares  that  he  is  the  Creator,  and  the  Redeemer,  and 
that  beside  Him  there  is  no  God  ? 

Who  this  most  glorious  Being  personally  is,  is  not  only  declared 
by  John  on  first  beholding  him,  when  he  says  that  he  saw  one 
like  unto  the  Son  of  Man,  which  is  one  of  the  known  titles  of 
Jesus  Christ;  and  repeatedly  in  the  long  discourse  which  follows  ; 
but  in  the  words  which  immediately  succeed,  where  the  Divine 
Speaker  says,  "  I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead."  In  the 
literal  sense,  these  words  obviously  refer  to  the  repeated  declara- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  when  on  earth,  that  he  was  "  the  Life  ;" 
and  to  the  circumstance  of  his  then  suffering  crucifixion  from 
the  Jews.  It  is  added,  however,  "  and,  behold,  I  am  alive  for 
evermore  ;" — which  words,  in  the  original,  are  the  same  as  are 


THE  NAME  OF   JEHOVAH  IN  HIS  HUMANITY.  105 


used  to  describe  the  Supreme  Being  who  was  seen,  in  chap,  iv., 
sitting  on  the  throne,  only  they  are  there  translated,  "He  that 
liveth  for  ever  and  ever ;"  of  whom  it  is  said,  that  the  twenty- 
four  elders  fall  down  before  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and 
worship  Him  that  "liveth  for  ever  and  ever."  If  uniformity  in 
the  translation  had  been  regarded,  these  words  in  our  text  would 
have  been  rendered,  "  And,  behold,  I  am  He  that  liveth  for  ever 
and  ever;"  which  is  another  plain  description  of  the  Supreme 
and  Only  God  who  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting. 

But  there  is  a  spiritual  sense  likewise  in  all  the  sayings  of 
Holy  Writ ;  as  must  obviously  be  the  case  in  all  declarations 
proceeding  from  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  and  it  will 
add  to  our  just  apprehension  of  the  subject  before  us  to  notice 
that  sense  here.  The  Lord  is  dead  in  regard  to  man,  when  He 
is  not  acknowledged,  or  not  acknowledged  in  his  true  character  ; 
and  it  was  in  consequence  of  their  not  acknowledging  Him  that 
the  Jews  actually  crucified  Him.  As  He  is  here  speaking  as  the 
Son  of  man — for  John  says  that  he  saw  One  like  unto  the  Son  of 
man — and  at  the  same  time  declares  that  he  is  the  First  and  the 
Last, — by  his  saying  that  he  was  dead  is  spiritually  meant,  that 
he  was  not  acknowledged  to  be  Divine  as  to  his  Human  Nature. 
The  whole  book  of  the  Revelation  of  John,  in  its  true  spiritual 
sense,  refers  to  the  discoveries  that  would  be  made  of  the  state 
of  mankind,  and  of  the  professing  church,  immediately  before 
the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  ;  wherefore  the  declaration  is  put 
in  the  past  tense, — "  I  was  dead,"  in  reference  to  the  denial  of  the 
Divinity  of  his  Humanity,  and  thus  of  his  being  the  Supreme 
and  Only  God,  which  would,  previous  to  that  period,  have  pre- 
vailed in  the  Church :  for  when  he  comes  in  spirit  and  not  in 
person,  there  is  no  other  possible  means  of  putting  him  to  death, 
but  by  denying  or  rejecting  him.  Therefore,  when  the  words, 
*'  and,  behold,  I  am  He  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,"  follow  the 
statement  that  He  was  dead,  their  meaning  is,  not  only  that  the 
Speaker,  in  and  of  Himself,  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  but,  to 
answer  to  the  statement  that  He  was  dead,  or  had  been  denied, 
that  this  denial  would  cease, — that  He  would  at  length  be 
acknowledged  in  his  true  character,  as  being,  since  his  ascension, 
divine  even  as  to  his  Humanity  ; — that  a  state  of  the  church 


106 


LECTURE  VII. 


would  arrive,  in  which  he  would  live,  as  the  true  God  in  a  Divine 
Humanity,  in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  people.  Blessed  en- 
couragement this,  for  us,  in  our  humble  efforts  to  extend  the 
knowledge  of  Him  in  the  glory  which  of  right  is  his  due  ! 
And  allow  me  here  to  say,  my  brethren,  that  happy  will  it 
be  for  us,  if  we  are  found  in  the  number  of  those  in  whose 
hearts  He  thus  lives.  The  Lord  is  dead  with  respect  to  man, 
when  he  is  not  sincerely  acknowledged  by  him ;  and  sincere 
acknowledgment  must  be  such  as  affects  the  life,  as  well  as 
moves  the  lips.  How  loudly  soever  we  may  profess  his  name, 
He  does  not  live  in  us,  till  the  proceeding  emanation  of  his 
divine  life,  which  is  his  Holy  Spirit,  or  his  love  and  wisdom  com- 
municated to  us,  forms  the  life  of  our  hearts  and  souls ;  or  till 
the  governing  principles  which  affect  our  wills  and  enlighten  our 
understandings  are  all  such  as  originate  with  Him. 

But  to  finish  our  remarks  upon  the  evidence  which  the  titles 
He  here  assumes  yield  to  his  true  character.  He  says,  finally, 
"  And  I  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death."  This,  again,  is  a 
prerogative  which  can  only  belong,  if  deeply  considered,  to  the 
Supreme  and  Only  God.  Who  else  can  either  open  hell,  and 
constrain  death,  or  the  opposite  of  spiritual  life,  to  relinquish  his 
prey,  and  so  liberate  the  man  who  as  to  his  spirit,  is  in  the 
death  of  sin,  and  constrain  hell,  and  the  infernal  powers  by  and 
among  whom  he  is  bound,  to  let  go  their  hold  ; — who  can  do 
this,  but  He  who  is  Omnipotent  ?  Accordingly,  just  as  in  the 
case  of  the  divine  title  of  "the  First  and  the  Last,"  this  attribute 
or  prerogative  is,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  ascribed  in  the 
Old  Testament  to  Jehovah  alone — to  that  Jehovah,  who  so  im- 
pressively declares  that  He  is  One.  Thus  David  say  s ,  (Ps.  lxviii. 
20),  "  He  that  is  our  God,  is  the  God  of  salvation ;  and  unto 
God  the  Lord  belong  the  issues  from  death."  Here  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  word  "  God"  is  printed  in  capital  letters,  to 
denote  that  in  the  original  it  is  "Jehovah;"  for  as  the  trans- 
lators of  the  common  Bible  generally  use  the  word  "  Lord," 
printed  in  capital  letters,  instead  of  the  word  "  Jehovah ;"  so, 
when  the  name  "Jehovah"  is  joined  in  the  original  with  a  word 
which  properly  signifies  "Lord,"  they  exchange  it  for  "God," 
printed  in  capital  letters.    Of  this  many  examples  may  be  seen 


THE  NAME  OF  JEHOVAH  IN  HIS  HUMANITY. 


107 


in  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  where  the  title  "  Lord  God"  very  fre- 
quently occurs,  and  the  word  "  God"  is  printed  in  capital  letters : 
in  the  original  it  is  "  the  Lord  Jehovah."  So  this  passage  of 
David  properly  says,  "Unto  Jehovah  the  Lord  belong  the  issues 
from  death."  The  meaning,  it  is  evident,  is  precisely  the  same 
as  that  of  our  text, — "  I  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death." 
According  to  David,  this  divine  power  belongs  to  none  but  "  the 
God  of  salvation"  "  the  Lord  Jehovah :"  Jesus,  the  Saviour, 
claims  it  for  himself:  Jesus,  the  Saviour,  is  then  "the  God  of 
salvation,"  "  the  Lord  Jehovah." 

Nothing  surely  can  be  more  clear  and  conclusive  than  the 
evidence  afforded,  by  the  whole  of  this  declaration  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  to  the  supreme  and  Sole  Divinity  of  Him  who 
claims  such  magnificent  titles  and  prerogatives.  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, a  difficulty  will  present  itself  to  the  minds  of  some,  arising 
from  the  manner  in  which  Jesus  Christ  is  mentioned  in  the  first 
verse  of  this  chapter  and  book,  where  a  distinction  is  made  be- 
tween him  and  God,  and  the  communications  for  the  church  con- 
tained in  this  book  are  said  to  be  given  him  by  God.  This,  then, 
shall  be  considered. 

The  book  begins  with  these  words  :  "  The  Revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  God  gave  unto  him,  to  declare  unto  his  servants 
things  which  must  shortly  come  to  pass."  It  may  be  asked,  If 
God  gives  unto  Jesus  Christ  the  things  which  he  communicates 
to  his  servants,  how  can  he  be  the  Supreme  God  himself?  An 
explanation  of  this  passage  will  apply  to  all  similar  forms  of 
speaking  throughout  the  New  Testament :  and  it  admits  of  an 
explanation,  which  I  should  apprehend,  must  entirely  satisfy 
every  serious  and  considerate  mind. 

We  have  already  seen,  that,  in  some  of  the  succeeding  verses, 
closing  with  that  of  our  text,  Jesus  calls  himself  "  the  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  Ending,  who  is,  and  who  was, 
and  who  is  to  come,  the  Almighty,"  and  "  the  First  and  the 
Last."  This  fully  evinces  that  the  term  "Jesus  Christ,"  and 
"  God,"  used  in  the  first  verse,  cannot  be  meant  to  indicate  two 
separate  Beings  :  otherwise  there  must  must  be  two  Alphas  and 
Omegas,  two  Almighties,  two  Firsts  and  Lasts  :  which  were 
impossible,  and  absurd.    But  the  name  "  Jesus  Christ"  is  that 


108 


LECTURE  VII. 


which  the  Lord  assumed  when  he  appeared  in  a  body  of  flesh  on 
this  earth ;  wherefore  by  that  name  is  meant  the  Eternal  God 
with  respect  to  that  principle  in  his  nature  by  and  from  which 
He  communicates  blessings  to  men  on  earth — to  human  beings 
in  a  natural  state  of  existence  ; — thus  it  denotes  what  may  be 
called  his  Divine  Natural  Principle, — or  his  Glorified  Human 
Nature.  So  by  the  term  "  God"  is  meant  the  same  Divine 
Being  with  respect  to  his  Essential  Divine  Nature.  Now  as  the 
Human  Nature  of  the  Godhead,  if  it  were  merely  human,  and 
not  at  the  same  time  Divine,  could  not  communicate  divine 
blessings  to  man,  therefore  the  power  of  doing  so  is  said  to  be 
communicated  to  it  by  God;  by  which  is  meant,  that  the  efficacy 
of  the  Divine  Humanity  in  enlightening  man,  is  owing  to 
its  being  the  seat,  and  manifested  form,  of  the  whole  Divine 
Essence. 

This  may  be  best  illustrated  by  the  exactly  parallel  case  of  the 
soul  and  body  of  man.  The  body  of  man  is  the  instrument  by 
which  he  holds  converse  with  others,  and  by  which  he  performs 
all  his  functions  in  the  world  ;  nor  could  his  soul,  without  it, 
make  itself  at  all  perceptible  to,  or  operate  upon,  other  men  in 
a  natural  state  of  existence  :  yet  the  body  derives  all  its  functions 
entirely  from  the  soul,  separate  from  which  it  would  be  incapable 
of  conversing  with  and  operating  upon  others,  and  even  of  exist- 
ing at  all ;  wherefore  it  may  most  truly  be  said,  that  these  powers 
are  given  it  by  the  soul.  Apply  this  parallel  to  the  case  of  the 
Divinity  and  Humanity  of  the  Lord  ;  and  you  will  obtain  a  view 
that  will  remove  all  obscurity.  The  Essential  Divinity,  here 
called  God,  separate  from  the  Divine  Humanity,  called  Jesus 
Christ,  could  no  more  operate  savingly  upon  man  in  his  dege- 
nerate and  natural  state,  than  the  soul  without  the  body  could 
produce  operations  in  the  world  :  and,  again,  the  Humanity, 
separate  from  the  Essential  Divinity,  would  be  as  destitute  of 
power,  as  the  body  of  a  man  separate  from  his  soul.  But,  in 
union,  they  are  omnipotent.  And  so  perfect  is  their  union,  that 
it  would  be  as  incorrect  to  regard  God  and  Jesus  Christ  as  two 
persons,  as  to  regard  as  two  persons  a  man's  soul  and  his  body. 

That,  also,  the  Lord's  Human  Nature,  since  his  resurrection, 
is  not  such  as  that  of  mere  humanity,  or  like  what  belongs  to 


THE  NAME  OF  JEHOVAH  IN  HIS  HUMANITY. 


109 


mortal  men,  but  is,  like  his  Infinite  Essence,  actually  Divine,  may 
be  seen  from  the  same  illustration.  For  man's  soul  and  body  are 
both  human  ;  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  his  soul  to  produce 
human  actions  if  it  were  inclosed  in  the  body  of  an  inferior 
animal ;  and  still  more  so,  were  it  inclosed  in  the  trunk  of  a 
tree,  or  in  a  lump  of  unorganized  matter.  So  must  the  Lord's 
Essence  and  Humanity  be  both  Divine ;  and  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  his  Divinity  to  perform  in  man  the  works  necessary 
for  his  regeneration,  or  to  possess,  in  that  Humanity,  as  is 
expressly  declared,  "  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth"  [Matt, 
xxviii.  18,]  if  his  Humanity  were  only  like  that  of  an  ordinary 
man.  Such  a  Humanity  would  be  as  inadequate  an  organ  for 
the  operations  of  his  Divinity,  as  a  pebble  or  grain  of  sand 
would  be  for  those  of  a  human  soul.  Hence  we  see  how  certain 
it  is,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  must  possess  the  attributes  of 
Divinity,  even  as  to  his  Human  Nature. 

Many  Christians  have  felt,  that  unless  the  Saviour  were  an 
Alnlighty  One,  He  could  not  afford  the  succour  which  they 
need  :  and  how  could  He  be  Almighty,  if  not  wholly  Divine, — 
thus,  Divine  even  as  to  his  Human  Nature  '?  Unless  it  were  so, 
none  could  experience  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  which 
proceeds  from  his  Humanity.  Hence  it  is  said  in  John,  [ch.  vii. 
31,]  that  "  the  Holy  Spirit  was  not  yet,  because  that  Jesus  was 
not  yet  glorified."  "The  Holy  Spirit"  here  means  the  divine 
operations  upon  the  souls  of  men  proceeding  from  the  Glorified 
or  Divine  Humanity  of  the  Lord  :  but  as  his  Humanity  was  not 
fully  divine  so  long  as  it  appeared  in  a  tangible  form  on  earth, 
but  became  so  by  a  process  which  He  then  underwent,  therefore, 
until  this  was  completed,  and  its  entire  union  with  the  Divine 
Essence  accomplished,  the  Holy  Spirit  did  not  proceed  from  Him. 
When,  however,  this  great  work  was  finished,  which  was  when 
He  rose  again  from  the  dead  and  ascended  into  heaven, — his 
Humanity  having  become  the  adequate  form,  and  instrument  for 
the  operations,  of  the  Divine  Essence,,  as  man's  body  is  of  his 
soul, — the  promise  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  abundantly 
fulfilled ; — that  is,  divine  influences  proceeded  from  his  Humanity, 
enlightening  the  minds  of  all  who  turned  towards  Him,  and 
imparting  in  profusion  the  endowments  of  salvation.    But  this 


110 


LECTURE  VII. 


part  of  the  subject  will  be  more  fully  illustrated  in  subsequent 
lectures. 

From  what  has  been  advanced,  I  trust  I  may  say,  it  may  be 
clearly  seen,  what  are  the  distinctions  in  the  Divine  Nature 
intended  by  the  terms  "  Father,"  "  Son,"  and  "  Holy  Spirit:" 
and  also,  how  it  may  be  true,  that  the  operations  of  Jesus  Christ, 
by  his  Spirit,  are  wrought  from  the  Father,  and  how  the  reve- 
lations made  by  Him  to  his  church  are  given  Him  from  the 
Father,  without  there  being  between  them  any  distinction  of 
persons.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  proper  name  of  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity, which  is  the  personal  form  of  the  Divine  Essence ;  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  proceeding  life  and  energy,  which  Jesus, 
as  he  promised  in  John,  [ch.  xv.  26,]  sends  from  the  Father  ;  or, 
which  emanates  from  the  Divine  Humanity  in  union  with  the 
Essential  Divinity.  Thus  also  we  see  that  Jesus  Christ,  viewed 
not  as  separate  from,  but  as  One  with,  the  Father,  is  the  proper 
Object  of  all  rightly  directed  worship.  Clearly,  indeed,  does  the 
whole  Word  of  God,  when  attentively  considered,  bear  testimony 
to  this  great  truth !  If  it  has  hitherto  lain  concealed,  and  is 
at  present  too  generally  overlooked,  it  is  only  because  the  minds 
of  men  are  too  little  prepared  to  undertake  the  duties  which  the 
acknowledgment  of  it  involves.  But  to  those  who  wish  to  know 
the  true  God,  in  order  that  they  may  love  and  obey  Him,  He  is 
ever  disposed  to  reveal  Himself,  and  is  ready  to  burst  in  majesty 
upon  their  intellectual  eye  from  every  page  of  his  Word. 

I  will  conclude  with  a  few  remarks  that  may  tend  to  remove 
objections  which  may  arise  from  an  imperfect  apprehension 
of  the  subject. 

A  reason  why  some  persons  find  a  difficulty  of  conceiving  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  separate  person  from  the  Father,  is,  because 
they  have  defective  views  of  the  nature  of  the  divine  omnipres- 
ence, and  imagine,  that  if  Jehovah  dwelt  in  Jesus  when  on  earth 
as  the  soul  of  man  in  its  body,  he  must  have  been  restricted 
as  to  space,  and  that  the  throne  of  heaven  must  in  the  mean 
time  have  been  left  without  an  occupant.  But  it  is  a  truth  on 
which  our  doctrines,  in  agreement  with  all  Scripture  and  with 
all  right  reason,  constantly  insist,  that  God  is  eternally  present 
everywhere,  without  being  in  the  least  controlled  or  limited  by 


THE  NAME  OF  JEHOVAH  IN  HIS  HUMANITY. 


Ill 


space ;  for  no  shackles  of  space  can  by  any  possibility  limit  or 
confine  Him  who  is  Infinite.  It  is  also  to  be  borne  in  mind, 
that  the  body  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  while  on  earth,  being 
born  of  a  human  mother,  must  at  first  have  partaken  of  her 
nature :  of  course,  that  body  could  not  be  a  receptacle  and 
dwelling-place  for  the  Essential  Divinity  in  all  its  fulness,  till 
renewed  by  a  divine  process,  and  perfectly  assimilated  to  the 
Divine  Nature.  That  this  was  only  done  gradually,  is  evi- 
dent from  the  circumstance  of  the  Lord's  being  thirty  years 
old  before  he  commenced  the  public  work  of  his  ministry; 
the  reason  of  which  delay  was,  because  his  human  nature  was 
not  previously  so  far  advanced  to  Oneness  with  the  Divinity,  as 
to  be  capable  of  receiving  it  in  the  fulness  requisite  for  the 
performance  of  the  divine  works  which  afterwards  showed 
forth  themselves  in  Him.  Indeed,  his  human  nature  was  not 
altogether  united  to  his  Divine  Essence  till  after  his  resurrection  ; 
as  is  evident  from  his  being  previously  in  a  material  body,  not 
outwardly  distinguishable  from  that  of  an  ordinary  man ;  whereas, 
after  his  resurrection,  we  find  that  his  body  itself,  being  then  also 
divine,  was  no  longer  visible  to  the  Jews,  and  only  to  the  disciples 
by  a  special  manifestation.  Thus  then  the  Human  Nature  was 
not  assumed  by  Jehovah,  by  quitting  his  throne  in  heaven  and 
shutting  himself  up  in  a  material  frame  ;  for  this  would  be  im- 
possible, as  being  contrary  to  all  the  divine  attributes.  It  was 
effected,  therefore,  by  the  Infinite  God's  putting  forth  his  in- 
fluences as  a  proceeding  sphere,  and  these  concentrating  them- 
selves in  a  form  taken  from  a  human  parent ;  which  is  what  is 
meant  by  its  being  said  to  Mary  [Luke  i.  35],  "  The  Holy  Ghost 
shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest  shall  over- 
shadow thee  :" — the  Holy  Ghost  or  Spirit,  and  the  Power  of  the 
Highest  or  the  Most  High,  are  the  divine  life  and  energy  pro- 
ceeding from  Jehovah  God  ; — He,  while  thus  producing  a  form 
to  be  animated  by  Himself,  still  remaining  in  the  centre  of  all 
things,  and  by  his  Spirit  everywhere  present,  as  before.  Any  one 
can  conceive  it  possible  for  a  man  to  be  so  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  to  be  entirely  possessed  by  it :  as  was  sometimes  the 
case  with  the  old  prophets.  Imagine  then  a  human  form  to  be 
produced  by  such  an  emanation  of  the  Divine  Life  operating  on 


112 


LECTURE  VII. 


the  virgin,  and  afterwards  to  be  continually  filled  and  actuated 
by  the  same,  the  divine  power  operating  in  it  with  such  energy, 
as  at  last  completely  to  assimilate  it  to  its  own  nature  : — Only, 
I  say,  form  this  idea  of  the  subject,  and  you  will  have,  I  appre- 
hend, some  faint  but  not  untrue  conception  of  the  mode  of  the 
birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  means  by  which  he  advanced 
to  perfect  oneness  with  the  Divine  Essence.  Upon  this  view  we 
see  how  the  saying  of  the  Apostle  Paul  [Col.  ii.  9]  must  be 
true — that  "in  him  (that  is,  in  Jesus  Christ,)  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  But  the  Godhead,  we  know, 
cannot  be  divided  :  whatever  then  receives  the  Godhead  in  all 
its  fulness  must  form  One  Person  with  it,  as  the  body  with  the 
soul. 

This  divine  subject  will  be  further  illustrated  in  future  Lec- 
tures ;  but  from  what  has  now  been  offered  may  in  some  measure 
be  seen,  how  it  is  true  that  the  Eternal  Jehovah  and  Jesus 
Christ  are  One  Divine  Being  in  one  Divine  Person, — that,  in 
fact,  the  Divine  Name,  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  name  of  Jehovah  in 
his  humanity ;  and  that  this  is  the  One  God,  in  whose  Divine 
Person  the  whole  Trinity  centres. 

"  To  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever !" 


LECTURE  VIII. 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST,  AND  THE  DIVINE 
NATURE  OF  HIS  RESURRECTION-BODY. 


Luke  xxiv.  latter  part  of  ver.  5,  and  beginning  of  ver.  6. 
"  Whxj  seek   ye  the  living  among   the  dead  ?    He   is  not  here, 
but  is  risen." 
(Preached  on  Easter  Da}'.) 

In  our  last  Lecture  it  was  endeavoured  to  illustrate  the  doctrine, 
which  we  regard  as  one  of  the  most  important  articles  of  the 
True  Christian  Religion,  That  the  Divine  Name,  Jesus  Christ, 
is  the  name  of  Jehovah  in  his  Humanity,  in  whose  Divine  Per- 
son, therefore,  the  whole  Divine  Trinity  centres.  We  then 
endeavoured,  though  briefly,  and  without  fully  entering  into  this 
part  of  the  subject,  to  obviate  the  objection  which  is  formed 
against  this  important  doctrine,  while  it  is  supposed  that  we 
mean  to  affirm,  that  the  Infinite  Jehovah  actually  shut  himself 
up  in  a  body  of  finite  materials  in  the  world,  thus  confined  him- 
self to  a  little  spot  in  the  land  of  Judea,  abdicated,  for  a  while, 
the  throne  of  heaven,  and  left  the  universe  without  its  Governor; 
— ideas  which  are  utterly  absurd — absolutely  monstrous — in 
themselves,  and  which  would  indeed  render  our  doctrine  both 
irrational  and  unscriptural,  if,  as  some  of  our  adversaries  have 
most  mistakenly  imagined,  they  involved  anything  of  the  kind. 
On  the  contrary,  wc  have  shown,  that  so  far  as  the  Humanity  of 
the  Lord,  while  in  the  world,  partook  in  any  degree  of  human 
imperfection,  it  was  not  the  proper  personal  manifestation  of 
Jehovah ;  but  that  it  became  such  by  a  wonderful  process  of 
glorification,  which  was  completed  at  the  resurrection  and  ascen- 
sion. This  being  the  day  on  which  the  former  of  these  great 
events  is  commemorated,  I  propose,  in  this  Lecture,  to  treat  of 
8 


114 


LECTURE  VIII. 


a  subject  which  will  very  much  illustrate  many  things  which  have 
been  advanced  before,  and  many  that  will  be  offered  in  our  sub- 
sequent Lectures  :  That  subject  is,  The  Resurrection  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Divine  Nature  of  his  Resurrection-Body. 

The  great  event  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
has  always  been  regarded  as  the  main  thing  on  which  depends 
the  Christian's  hope.  If  Christ  be  not  risen  from  the  dead,  as 
the  apostle  observes,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your  faith 
also  is  vain.  For  his  remaining  in  the  tomb  would  have  proved 
him  to  have  been  but  a  man,  however  holy  and  gifted,  and  of 
course  incapable  of  imparting  any  help  to  his  fellow-men,  to 
lead  them  to  heaven,  beyond  what  might  be  gathered  from  his 
example  and  instructions :  and  these  would  not  have  differed, 
except  in  their  greater  excellence,  from  the  example  and  instruc- 
tions of  other  pious  men  ;  which,  although  they  may  point  out 
the  way  to  heaven,  convey  no  inward  power  to  enable  the  sinner 
to  enter  and  walk  in  it.  Such  a  power  could  not  possibly  be 
imparted  by  the  precepts  and  example  of  Jesus,  had  He  been 
merely  a  holy  mortal  man,  and  had  He  shared  the  common  lot 
of  mortal  men,  by  continuing  to  sleep,  as  to  his  natural  part,  in 
the  silent  tomb, — had  he  not  risen  to  full  union  with  Divinity, 
and  thus  received,  as  to  his  Human  Essence,  the  power  of 
abiding  perpetually  with  his  disciples, — "Lo!  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world," — and  of  communicating 
to  them  the  inward  endowments  necessary  to  empower  them  to 
obey  his  precepts,  to  follow  his  example,  and  thus  to  become 
like-minded  with  Him. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  the  only  being  that 
ever  returned  from  the  grave.  Merely  mortal  men  have,  like- 
wise, risen  from  the  dead  ;  as  Lazurus,  the  widow's  son  of  Nain, 
and  several  others;  whose  spirits  were  arrested  in  their  transit 
to  the  other  world,  and  bidden  again  to  animate  their  defunct 
material  tenements,  by  the  powerful  word  of  Jesus.  But  between 
their  resurrection  and  His,  there  are  these  remarkable  points  of 
difference.  In  the  first  place,  they  were  raised  by  His  power, 
not  their  own ;  whereas  he  assured  his  hearers  that  he  would 
rise  again  by  his  own  power : — "  I  have  power,"  says  he,  "  to 
lay  down  my  life,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again"  (which 


THE   RESURRECTION  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  115 


words  clearly  show,  that  when  Peter  says,  in  his  sermon  to  the. 
Jews,  "  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,"  we  are  to  understand, 
not  a  God  separate  from  Jesus,  but  the  Divine  Essence  within 
Him  ;  according  to  which  idea  it  is  equally  correct  to  say,  that 
God  raised  Him,  and  that  He  raised  Himself.)  In  the  second 
place,  all  other  persons  who  had  been  recalled  to  life,  not  only 
rose  again,  but  also  died  again, — otherwise  they  would  be  living 
among  men  at  the  present  day  ;  whereas,  in  the  words  of  the 
Apostle,  "  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead,  dieth  no  more  : 
death  hath  no  more  dominion  over  him."  And,  finally, — what 
perhaps  is  the  most  singular  distinction  of  all, — they,  after  they 
had  been  restored  to  life,  continued,  so  long  as  they  retained 
such  merely  temporary  life,  to  live  upon  the  earth,  as  before;  as 
it  is  said  of  the  widow's  son,  that  Jesus  delivered  him  to  his 
mother;  and  of  Lazarus,  that  he  was  present  with  his  sisters  and 
many  Jews  at  a  feast ;  thus  continuing  on  earth  as  before,  and 
being  equally  discernible  to  the  eyes  of  all,  seen  alike  by  his 
friends  and  his  enemies,  so  that  the  Jews,  it  is  said,  sought  to  put 
him  again  to  death  because  that  through  him  many  believed  on 
Jesus  :  whereas  Jesus,  after  his  resurrection,  was  entirely  invisible 
to  the  Jews,  and  was  only  seen  even  by  the  disciples  when  he 
manifested  himself  to  them  in  a  miraculous  manner,  such  as 
appearing  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  them  when  the  doors  were 
shut. 

Now  the  reason  of  these  wonderful  peculiarities  attending  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  is  simply  this  :  because  the  Apostle  Paul 
speaks  the  plain  truth  of  Him  when  he  declares,  that  He  was 
"  God  manifest  in  the  flesh," — because  He  was  the  Eternal 
Jehovah  clothed  in  human  nature.  And  the  reason  why  in  his 
resurrection  is  centred  the  whole  foundation  of  the  Christian's 
hope,  is,  because  his  resurrection,  with  all  the  wonders  attending 
it,  demonstrated,  that  his  Human  Nature  was  then  so  perfectly 
assimilated  to  his  Divine,  as  to  be  itself  Divine  also;  and  it  is 
onby  from  his  Human  Nature  thus  glorified  or  rendered  a  full 
participator  in  Divinity,  that  those  saving  influences  can  flow 
which  must  lead  back  erring  man  to  conjunction  with  his  God. 
It  is  therein  that  the  Divinity  Itself  is  rendered  approachable 
and  conceivable  by  man.    Without  it,  God  must  ever  have  re- 


116 


LECTURE  VIII. 


mained,  to  man,  an  unfathomable,  inconceivable  abyss,  no  more 
apprehensible  by  the  eye  of  his  mind,  than  boundless  extension 
is  by  the  eye  of  his  body. 

I  propose  in  this  Lecture  to  endeavour  to  establish  these  facts : 
That  the  chief  difficulty  attending  the  belief  on  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
Only  God,  would  be  removed,  if  the  proper  distinction  were  made 
between  what  He  possessed  as  the  Son  of  Mary  and  as  the  Son  of 
God :  and  also,  if  it  loere  seen  that,  while  He  was  in  the  world, 
his  Human  Nature  successively  underwent  a  change;  so  that, 
while  the  Son  of  Mary  died  at  the  crucifixion,  and  was  wholly 
and  forever  put  away  by  his  burial,  the  Humanity  which  rose 
was  purely  the  Son  of  God,  without  any  mixture  of  merely  human 
infirmity  :  and  that  the  Son  of  God  cannot  be  a  being  separate 
from  God  himself  but  is  the  proper  title  of  the  Divine  Humanity, 
derived  from  the  Essential  Divinity,  and  constittiting  One  Person 
with  it,  as  the  body  of  man  is  derived  from,  and  constitutes  one 
person  with,  his  soul.  These  being  important  and  certain  truths, 
to  regard  Jesus  as  being  still  the  Son  of  Mary,  is  to  seek  the 
living  among  the  dead. 

I  must  be  permitted  to  assume  as  true,  what  in  former  Lectures 
I  have  endeavoured  to  show,  and  which  in  some  future  ones  will 
yet  be  more  fully  proved, — That  Paul  did  not  speak  in  the  lan- 
guage of  hyperbole,  but  in  that  of  truth  and  soberness,  when 
he  declared,  respecting  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  "  in  Him 
dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily." — not  part  of 
the  Godhead,  but  all;  and  that  Jesus  Himself,  who  affirms  that 
He  is  the  Truth  Itself,  did  not  utter  a  sentiment  adverse  to  the 
truth,  but  that  He  spoke  the  plain  truth  in  plain  words,  when  he 
said  to  Philip,  "He  that  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father." 
And  if  only  these  two  statements  are  admitted  to  be  true,  He 
is,  as  to  his  Essence,  the  Father  Himself,  and  God  alone. 

The  chief  difficulty  with  which  this  subject  has  been  attended 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  considered  it,  has  arisen,  as  al- 
ready intimated,  from  their  not  having  adverted  to  the  wonderful 
change  which  took  place  in  the  person  itself  of  Jesus  during  the 
period  of  his  abode  on  earth  :  and  yet,  that  his  person  did  un- 
dergo such  a  change,  is  most  plainly  indicated  in  Scripture. 
Because  he  was  born  with  all  that  part  of  mere  humanity  which 


THE   RESURRECTION  OF   THE   LORD   JESUS  CHRIST. 


117 


ordinary  men  receive  from  their  human  mothers,jalthough,  unlike 
any  ordinary  man,  he  had  no  human  father — no  father  but  the 
Divine  Father  ; — overlooking  this  infinite  difference  between  him 
and  common  human  beings,  it  has  in  general  been  supposed, 
that  he  was,  as  to  his  human  nature,  a  mere  man,  a  positive 
creature,  much  as  ordinary  men  are,  both  while  he  abode  on 
earth  and  when  he  ascended  into  heaven  :  whereas  had  it  been 
adverted  to — what  the  Scriptures  plainly  teach, — that  he  under- 
went a  process  similar  to,  though  infinitely  more  exalted  in  degree 
than,  that  which  in  man  is  called  regeneration  and  sanctification, 
which  consists  in  a  real  renewal  of  the  external  man,  and  by 
which  the  external  man  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  what  he 
possessed  as  the  Son  of  Mary,  was  gradually  put  off,  till,  at  his  re- 
surrection, none  of  it  was  remaining — so  that  he  then,  and  now, 
no  longer  was,  or  is,  the  Son  of  Mary  in  any  sense  whatever, — 
subsequently  existing,  not  in  a  material,  but  in  what  the  Apostle 
calls  a  glorious,  which  is  in  reality  a  Divine  body  ;  and  had  it 
also  been  observed,  that  all  that  is  said  of  his  sufferings,  or  of  his 
state  of  humiliation  while  on  earth,  relates  to  states  which  be- 
longed to  him  as  the  Son  of  Mary,  and  only  so  long  as  he  con- 
tinued her  Son  : — Had,  I  say,  these  truths  been  considered,  it 
would  have  been  seen,  that  no  valid  argument  can  be  drawn,  from 
the  circumstances  attendant  on  the  state  of  humiliation  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  against  his  Divinity,  and  even  his  Sole  Di- 
vinity, in  the  Glorified  Body  which  now  constitutes  his  Divine 
Personal  Form,  and  which  is  not  material,  but  Divine  Substantial, 
being  in  fact,  nothing  else  than  pure  Divine  Love  displayed  in  a 
human  form.  Thus,  also,  had  these  things  been  attended  to  by 
the  framers  of  doctrinal  systems,  we  should  have  been  instructed 
to  concentrate  our  faith  on  one  Divine  Person  alone  ;  whose  Es- 
sence, or  inmost  principle  of  life,  answering  to  the  soul  of  man, 
is  what,  in  the  style  of  representatives  composed  of  natural  images 
in  which  the  Scriptures  are  written,  is  called  the  Father;  whose 
Divine  Form  or  Body  is  what  is  called  the  Son  ;  and  whose  Di- 
vine Proceeding  or  Operative  Energy  is  what  is  called  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

But  as  this  subject, — respecting  the  difference  between  the 
human  nature  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  took  from  the  human 


118 


LECTURE  VIII. 


mother  and  that  which  he  derived  from  the  Divine  Father, — or, 
in  other  words,  between  what  is  called  the  Son  of  Mary  and  what 
is  called  the  Son  of  God, — is  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  be 
distinctly  apprehended,  we  will  dwell  upon  it  a  little  more  par- 
ticularly. 

According  to  what  has  already  been  offered,  it  may  be  seen, 
that  the  body  of  material  flesh  and  blood,  in  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  while  on  earth,  was  visible  to  all  beholders,  is  by  no 
means  to  be  considered  as  strictly  One  with  the  Divine  Essence, 
and  its  proper  personal  form.  This  body  was  taken  from  the 
virgin,  and  was  composed  of  the  same  materials  as  the  bodies  of 
ordinary  men,  and  supported  in  like  manner  by  natural  nourish- 
ment. With  respect  to  this  body,  then,  and  all  the  natural  ap- 
petites and  affections  connected  with  it,  Jesus  was,  while  in  the 
world,  the  Son  of  Mary.  It  is  to  be  understood,  therefore,  that 
when  we  affirm  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  only  God,  in 
whom  dwells  the  Father  or  Divine  Essence,  and  from  whom  pro- 
ceeds the  Holy  Spirit  or  Divine  Influences,  we  speak  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  He  now  exists  in  heaven,  in  that  Divine  Body  in 
which  he  rose  from  the  grave  ;  which  retained  nothing  whatever 
of  the  imperfect  nature  received  from  the  human  mother,  but  is 
divine  itself  also.  This  Divine  Humanity  it  is,  to  which  belongs 
the  name  so  often  given  to  Jesus  of  "  the  Son  of  God  ;"  for  it  was 
solely  the  offspring  of  the  Divine  Father  ;  and  as  Divinity  cannot 
be  divided/was  completely  One  with  the  Divine  Father,  as  the 
soul  of  man  is  one  with  his  body.  Thus  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
while  in  the  world,  so  far  as  he  had  anything  appertaining  to  him 
from  the  mother,  or  so  far  as  He  was  the  Son  of  Mary,  was  not 
strictly  One  with  the  Father :  but  in  proportion  as  what  He  re- 
ceived from  her  was  put  off,  and  a  Divine  Human  Nature  received 
or  brought  forth  from  the  Father,  put  on  in  its  place,  He  advanced 
towards  perfect  union  :  till  at  length,  all  the  life  of  the  maternal 
nature  being  extinguished  at  the  passion  of  the  cross,  and  the 
Divine  life  from  the  Father  being  brought  down  into  the  lowest 
natural  principle  in  lieu  of  it,  at  the  resurrection,  He  thencefor- 
ward, and  for  ever,  was,  and  is,  One  with  the  Father, — One  God 
in  One  Divine  Person  ;  his  Divine  Soul  being  the  very  Father, 
or  what  is  called  God  in  his  inmost  essence,  and  his  Divine  Body 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  Hi) 


being  the  Son  of  God,  or  a  clothing  of  the  Divine  Essence, 
brought  forth  solely  from  that  Essence  itself,  to  be  the  medium 
of  its  manifestation  to  mankind. 

Let,  however,  the  last  observation  I  have  here  made  be  part- 
cularly  observed,  since,  if  it  be  lost  sight  of,  though  we  should 
retain  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  God,  and  may  believe  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  He,  we  yet  may  be  under  an  erroneous  con- 
ception of  a  most  serious  nature.  The  observation  I  mean  is, 
that  although  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  while  in  the  world, put  off 
everything  at  first  taken  from  the  mother,  he  put  on  a  Divine 
Human  Nature  brought  forth  from  the  Father  in  its  stead :  in 
fact,  no  putting  off  ever  took  place  without  there  being  a  corres- 
ponding putting  on.  The  Lord  did  not,  by  his  death  and  resur- 
rection, as  the  conclusion  of  all  his  temptations,  merely  put  oft' all 
the  imperfections  and  all  the  gross  material  nature  which  adhered 
to  Him  as  the  Son  of  Mary,  and  so  return  into  his  Divine  Essence, 
just  as  He  had  come  forth  from  it :  otherwise  no  permanent  be- 
nefit would  have  resulted  to  mortals  from  his  incarnation,  and 
He  would  be  now  an  invisible,  unapproachable,  inconceivable, 
unmanifested  God,  as  before  :  but  He  returned  into  the  bosom 
of  Deity  perfect  Man  as  well  as  perfect  God.  He  took  with 
Him  everything  belonging  to  human  nature,  even  to  the  lowest 
ultimates  or  extremes  ;  only  nothing  of  it  was  the  same  as  when 
first  taken  from  the  mother,  but  all  had  been  completely  re- 
newed, all  re-produced,  from  the  Father  himself.  Thus,  though 
everything  truly  belonging  to  human  nature  remained,  it  was  no 
longer  merely  human,  but  was,  at  the  same  time,  Divine. 

This  process,  then,  of  putting  off  the  Son  of  Mary  and  putting 
on  the  Son  of  God,  was  continually  going  on  during  the  whole 
of  the  Lord's  life  in  the  world ;  and  it  was  so  far  completed  at 
the  time  of  the  passion  of  the  cross,  that  nothing  then  remained 
unglorified  but  the  material  frame.  When  the  life  of  this  was 
extinguished,  all  that  was  the  Son  of  Mary  died  ;  and  presently, 
the  Divinity  within  descending  into  the  same  sphere,  which  is 
described  in  the  emblematic  language  of  Scripture,  by  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  descending  and  rolling  away  the  stone  at  the  mouth 
of  the  sepulchre,  the  Lord  rose  again  in  a  Divine  Human  Body, 
over  which,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  observes,  death  has  no  dominion. 


120 


LECTURE  VIII. 


That  this  is  the  true  view  of  this  divine  subject  may  be  proved 
from  numerous  Scripture  testimonies.  I  will  first  mention  some 
which  demonstrate,  that  after  Jesus  had  entered  on  the  work  of 
his  ministry,  thus  when  he  had  already  ceased,  in  a  great  degree, 
to  be  the  Son  of  Mary,  he  never  acknowledged  her  as  his  mother. 

As  He  never  was,  in  any  but  a  legal  sense,  the  son  of  Joseph 
the  husband  of  Mary,  so  He  never  in  any  degree  countenanced 
the  idea  that  Joseph  was  his  father.  Thus,  when  he  had  stayed 
among  the  doctors  in  the  temple,  when  twelve  years  old,  and 
Mary  said  to  him,  "Thy  father  and  I  have  sought  thee  sorrow- 
ing," He  replied,  in  terms  which  implied  reproof  for  ascribing 
to  him  any  father  but  the  Divine  Father,  "How  is  it  that  ye 
sought  me  ?  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's 
business?" — not  the  business  of  his  reputed  father,  Joseph,  but 
of  his  Divine  and  Only  Father ;  and  in  which  language,  also,  he 
seems  to  allow  but  little  of  the  maternal  privileges  to  Mary. 
But  the  mode  in  which  he  alwaj^s  spoke  to  Mary  afterwards  is 
truly  remarkable,  and  has  given  great  trouble  to  the  commen- 
tators to  reconcile  it  with  decent  respect.  At  the  wedding  in 
Cana,  "the  mother  of  Jesus,"  as  she  is  called  by  the  historian, 
"  saith  unto  him,  They  have  no  wine."  His  answer  was  such  as 
would  but  indifferently  have  agreed  with  the  character  of  a 
merely  human  pattern  of  excellence,  speaking  to  one  who  was 
really  his  mother:  He  said,  "Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with 
thee  ?" — words  which  imply  a  positive  refusal  to  acknowledge 
her  as  his  mother,  and  which  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the 
fact,  that  He  was  at  this  time,  as  to  all  that  spoke  and  acted  in 
him,  not  her  Son.  So  when  he  hung  upon  the  cross,  and  "  saw 
his  mother,  and  the  disciple  standing  by  whom  he  loved,  he  saith 
unto  his  mother,  Woman,  behold  thy  son !  and  to  the  disciple, 
Behold  thy  mother.  And  from  that  hour,"  it  is  added,  "that 
disciple  took  her  to  his  own  Aome,"  as  the  common  translation 
supplies,  though  "took  her  for  his  own  mother"  would  be  quite 
as  agreeable  to  the  original.  This  circumstance  is  noted  by 
commentators  as  a  mark  of  the  filial  piety  of  Jesus  :  but,  cer- 
tainly, though  it  may  show  his  benevolence,  it  exhibits  no  mark 
of  filial  respect,  as  it  includes  no  acknowledgment  that  He  was 
her  son  :  and  the  reason  why  it  is  recorded,  is,  to  inform  us  that 


THE   RESURRECTION  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  121 


M  from  that  hour" — the  hour  of  his  crucifixion, — He  was  no 
longer  her  son  in  any  respect  whatever.  Accordingly,  what 
would  otherwise  be  unaccountable,  she  is  never  afterwards  men- 
tioned. Mary  Magdalen  and  other  women  are  spoken  of  as 
doing  the  last  offices  to  his  remains,  and  attending  about  the 
sepulchre ;  but  no  more  mention  of  Mary  who  had  been  mother 
of  Jesus.  Her  natural  affection  must  surely  have  led  her,  had 
it  not  been  overruled  otherwise  for  an  express  reason,  to  be  as 
anxious  about  Him  after  his  burial  as  Mary  Magdalene  was:  yet 
she  never  appears.  It  may  be  imagined  that  she  was  prevented 
by  excess  of  grief:  yet,  surely,  if  she  could  bear  to  witness  his 
agonies  on  the  cross,  nothing  that  followed  afterwards  could 
be  beyond  her  capacity  of  endurance.  At  all  events,  as  the  news 
of  his  resurrection  spread  like  lightning,  her  grief  must  then 
have  been  turned  into  joy  ;  and,  unquestionably,  had  she  still 
thought  of  him  as  her  Son,  she  would  most  eagerly  have  sought 
once  more  to  clasp  him  in  her  arms.  Still  she  does  not  appear. 
What  could  be  the  reason  of  this  seemingly  strange  backward- 
ness in  one  who  must  have  been  among  the  most  delighted  wel- 
comers  of  his  return  to  life  "?  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  con- 
tinued silence  respecting  her  of  all  the  evangelists  ?  It  was, 
first,  because  all  that  belonged  to  the  risen  Jesus  being  in  a 
sphere  above  that  of  nature,  his  presence  could  not  be  entered 
into  by  even  the  most  amiable  of  the  merely  natural  affections  ; 
— but,  more  especially,  because  all  the  feelings  of  natural  ma- 
ternal love  were  taken  away  from  Mary  with  the  infinite  change 
which  was  effected  in  the  person  of  Jesus, — because  it  was  no 
longer  possible  for  her  to  love  him  familiarly  as  her  Son,  whom 
she  now  loved  reverentially  as  her  God.  It  was  to  the  women 
that  hovered  about  the  sepulchre  that  the  angel  addressed  the 
words  of  our  text;  and  we  are  informed,  in  ver.  10,  that  these 
were  Mary  Magdalene,  and  Joanna,  and  Mary  the  mother  of 
James,  and  other  women  that  were  with  them.  Now  it  is  highly 
probable,  that  among  these  other  women,  was  Mary  who  had  been 
the  mother  of  Jesus  ;  but  the  reason  why  she  is  not  mentioned,  is, 
because  it  would  be  a  violation  of  the  sanctity  that  should  attach 
to  the  idea  of  the  Lord  in  his  risen  body,  to  use  any  expression 
that  should  revive  the  idea  of  his  having  any  real  affinity,  or 


122 


LECTURE  VIII. 


natural  relationship,  with  a  finite  creature ; — because  in  Him, 
now,  God  was  man,  and  man  was  God — his  Divinity  being 
brought  down  into  the  very  lowest  degrees  and  principles  of 
Humanity,  and  his  Humanity  exalted  to  a  full  participation  of 
all  the  attributes  of  Divinity  ; — because  He  now  was  God  as  to 
both  elements  of  his  being. 

Abundantly  plain,  then,  it  is,  that,  after  Jesus  entered  on  the 
work  of  His  ministry,  He  had  already  ceased,  in  a  great  degree, 
to  be  the  Son  of  Mary, — that  He  finally  ceased  to  bear  any  na- 
tural relationship  to  her  at  his  resurrection ;  and  that  He  never 
acknowledged  her  as  his  mother.  But  there  are  numerous  other 
circumstances  which  demonstrate  the  truly  divine  character  of 
his  resurrection-body, — such  as  the  manner  of  his  resurrection 
itself,  and  the  manner  of  his  appearance  to  his  disciples  after- 
wards. First,  then,  with  respect  to  the  manner  of  his  resurrec- 
tion itself. 

That  He  did  rise  from  the  tomb,  and  with  his  whole  body,  is 
most  certain.  Not  only  did  the  female  disciples,  as  is  recorded 
in  our  text  and  in  all  the  other  evangelists,  receive  an  assurance 
from  angels  that  he  was  not  in  the  sepulchre,  but  was  risen  ;  not 
only  did  all  the  disciples  see  from  without  that  the  stone  was 
rolled  away  from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  and  nothing  of  a  hu- 
man person  left  within  ;  but  some  entered  in,  and  viewed  the 
place  where  he  had  lain  ;  and  Peter  and  John,  it  is  related,  be- 
held the  linen  cloths  in  which  his  body  had  been  swathed  lying 
where  that  had  been  deposited, — and  lying,  as  it  would  appear, 
and  as  the  original  word  implies,  as  if  that  which  they  had  en- 
veloped had  emerged  without  unfolding  them, — and  as  is  expressly 
said  of  the  napkin  which  had  been  bound  round  the  head,  that 
it  lay  wrapped  together  in  a  place  by  itself.  And  as  it  was  thus 
so  certain,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  body  was  gone,  it  is  no  less 
certain,  on  the  other,  that  Jesus  was  alive  ;  for  he  was  repeatedly 
seen,  both  on  the  day  of  his  resurrection,  and  for  forty  days  af- 
terwards. One  circumstance  which  shows  the  divine  nature  of 
the  transaction,  is  this  :  that  there  were  no  human  witnesses  of 
the  resurrection  itself — the  act  of  coming  forth  from  the  tomb  ; 
and  no  description  is  given  of  it  by  any  of  the  evangelists.  When 
Jesus  had  previously  resuscitated  the  widow's  son  of  Nain,  "he 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  123 


stopped  the  bier,  and  said,  Young  man,  I  say  unto  thee  Arise." 
And,  it  is  added,  "  he  that  was  dead  sat  up,  and  began  to  speak  ; 
and  he  delivered  him  to  his  mother."  So,  when  he  had  com- 
manded the  stone  to  be  removed  from  the  mouth  of  the  grave,  of 
Lazarus,  "he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  Lazarus,  come  forth  !  And 
he  that  was  dead,"  the  record  proceeds  to  state,  "  came  forth, 
bound  hand  and  foot  with  grave  clothes,  and  his  face  bound  about 
with  a  napkin  :"  wherefore  Jesus  said  again  to  those  present, 
"Loose  him,  and  let  him  go."  All  this  is  perfectly  natural,  and, 
with  respect  to  the  resurrection  from  the  grave  of  any  finite  being 
in  a  body  of  flesh  and  blood,  the  circumstances  could  not  be 
otherwise.  Such  a  body  could  not  be  evolved  from  the  grave- 
clothes  without  discomposing  them,  nor  be  extricated  from 
them,  when  swathed  up  in  many  folds  of  them,  as  was  the  cus- 
tom with  the  Jews,  without  assistance  from  others;  and,  most 
certainly,  could  not  come  out  of  the  sepulchral  cavern,  without, 
like  Lazarus,  walking  forth.  Yet  nothing  of  the  sort  is  related 
respecting  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  His  grave-clothes  were 
left,  we  have  seen,  undisturbed,  in  the  place  where  his  body  had 
lain ;  and  none  of  the  evangelists  gives  any  account,  except  by 
remote  and  correspondent  images,  of  the  manner  in  which  his 
Divine  Person  emerged  from  the  sepulchre.  An  angel  came  and 
rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  :  yet  it  is 
not  said  that  the  Lord's  body  thereupon  walked  forth.  Accord- 
ing to  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  the  female  disciples  were 
invited  by  the  angel  to  view  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay ;  and 
according  to  John,  Mary  Magdalen  beheld  two  angels,  one  sitting 
at  the  head,  and  the  other  at  the  feet,  where  the  body  of  Jesus 
had  lain  ;  and  the}'  all  afterwards  saw  Him  in  various  places  with- 
out the  sepulchre  :  yet  neither  the}-,  nor  the  guards  who  had 
watched  the  sepulchre  through  the  night,  and  who  were  present 
when  the  angel  came  and  rolled  away  the  stone,  saw  Him  come 
forth.  Nor  is  anything  of  the  nature  of  a  coming  forth  ever 
stated  respecting  Him.  The  angels  say  to  the  women,  "  He 
is  not  here ;  he  is  risen  :"  but  they  do  not  define  the  manner  of 
his  rising.  The  whole  is  left  in  die  mystery  and  apparent  ob- 
scurity so  essential  to  the  sublimity  of  such  a  subject.  He  did 
not  rise  and  go  forth  as  a  resuscitated  mortal  must  have  done :  and 


124 


LECTURE  VIII. 


the  mode  of  his  resurrection  could  not  have  been  described  in  plain 
terms,  without  departing  from  the  divine  style  of  writing,  com- 
posed of  simple  statements  of  natural  images,  in  which  alone  the 
Word  of  God  could  be  written  ;  nor  could  any  terms  of  human 
language  plainly  describe  it,  without  limiting  and  in  a  manner 
debasing  a  subject,  which,  as  being  of  a  nature  most  purely  divine, 
can  never  be  adequately  apprehended  by  any  finite  intelligence. 
Therefore  the  gospels  only  speak  of  it  under  representative  images  : 
in  which  the  whole  divine  fulness  of  it  is  included,  though,  to 
those  who  confine  their  ideas  to  the  literal  expression,  they  seem 
not  to  relate  to  it  all.  Thus  the  angel,  it  is  said  in  Matthew, 
rolled  back  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  :  but,  as  we 
have  noticed,  it  is  not  said  that  the  Lord  thereupon,  like  Lazarus 
at  his  call,  came  forth.  The  reason  is,  because,  to  his  coming 
forth,  the  rolling  away  of  the  stone  was  by  no  means  necessary. 
It  was  done  to  represent  an  important  circumstance  connected 
with  the  subject :  but  the  Lord's  resurrection  would  equally  have 
taken  place,  had  the  grave  continued  shut  with  a  stone  from  that 
hour  to  this.  He  who  the  same  evening,  and  afterwards,  suddenly 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  room  where  the  disciples  were  as-  i 
sembled,  though  the  doors  were  shut  and  fastened  for  fear  of  the 
Jews,  could  not  have  been  confined  to  the  grave,  had  the  stone 
never  been  removed  from  its  mouth.  Had  his  body  been  now  of 
material  substance,  as  before,  it  could  not  have  come  out  of  the 
grave  without  the  previous  removal  of  the  stone  ;  nor  could  it  have 
appeared  in  the  room  without  the  previous  opening  of  the  door. 
It  did  the  latter,  because  it  was  now  no  longer  a  material  body, 
but  a  Divine  Substantial  body,  and,  as  such,  was  unlimited  by  the 
shackles  of  space,  and  could  experience  no  obstruction  from  ma- 
terial substance.  And  for  the  same  reason,  although,  to  represent 
a  certain  part  of  the  operation,  the  angel  rolled  away  the  stone, 
it  is  never  said  that  the  Divine  Occupant  availed  himself  of  the 
circumstance  to  walk  out  at  the  aperture.  In  the  same  manner 
as  his  body,  now  no  longer  material  but  divine,  disappeared  from 
within  the  grave-clothes  without  discomposing  them,  it  could  have 
emerged  from  the  sepulchre  also  without  disturbing  ihe  stone  at 
its  mouth.  The  fact  is  that  his  body,  being  now  in  full  partici- 
pation of  all  the  properties  of  Divinity,  was  invested  with  the 


THE   RESURRECTION  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST-  125 

attribute  of  omnipresence,  and  could  no  longer  be  limited  to  any- 
single  spot,  or  confined  within  the  limits  of  the  material  universe. 
With  his  Humanity,  as  the  Son  of  Mary,  the  possession  of  such 
an  attribute  was  impossible  ;  but  it  is  a  necessary  adjunct  of  his 
Humanity  as  the  Son  of  God. 

These  remarks  may  suffice  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the 
Lord's  resurrection  itself :  but  we  must  also  briefly  notice  the 
manner  of  his  appearing  to  the  disciples  afterwards. 

When  it  is  known  that  the  Lord,  in  his  resurrection-body,  is 
omni}' resent,  many  circumstances  become  easily  intelligible,  which 
otherwise  are  involved  in  inextricable  mystery.  Thus  the  cir- 
cumstance just  adverted  to,  of  his  appearing  in  the  midst  of  the 
room  when  the  doors  were  shut,  is  at  once  made  clear  and  easy ; 
though,  upon  any  other  supposition  it  is  beset  with  inconsisten- 
cies. Commentators  in  general,  being  possessed  with  the  notion 
that  the  Lord's  resurrection-body  was  of  material  substance,  the 
same  as  before,  do  such  violence  to  the  plain  import  of  the  pas- 
sage, as  to  suppose,  that,  notwithstanding  its  being  expressly 
said  that  "  Jesus  came,  (he  doors  being  shut,  and  stood  in  the 
midst,"  this  only  means,  that,  though  they  were  shut  before 
He  came,  He  opened  them  by  a  miracle,  and  so  walked  in  : 
whereas,  admit  that  He  now  was  in  a  divine  and  therefore 
omnipresent  body,  and  that  the  disciples  saw  Him  by  virtue 
of  the  sight  of  their  spirits  being  opened  for  the  purpose ; 
and  we  have  a  view  that  is  in  all  respects  agreeable  to  the 
language  of  the  sacred  text,  and  does  no  violence  to  any  of  our 
perceptions. 

Another  circumstance  which  becomes  easy  of  comprehension 
when  it  is  known  that  the  Lord's  resurrection-body  was  divine, 
and  therefore  endued  with  the  attribute  of  omnipresence,  is  that 
of  his  apparent  journey  with  the  two  disciples  to  Emmaus  :  and 
which  again  proves  that  his  resurrection-body  must  have  possessed 
this  attribute.  For  He  was  visible,  it  appears,  to  these  disciples  on 
their  journey,  and  yet  appeared  to  the  Apostle  Peter  at  Jerusa- 
lem at  the  same  tunc.  The  evangelist  Luke  informs  us,  that  two 
disciples,  who  were  acquainted  with  all  that  had  taken  place  at 
the  sepulchre  and  at  Jerusalem  in  the  morning,  went  the  same 
day  to  Emmaus,  and  that,  as  they  went,  Jesus  himself  drew  near 


126 


LECTURE  VIII. 


and  went  with  them  ;  and  when  they  had  arrived  at  the  village 
whither  they  were  going,  He  discovered  himself  to  them,  and 
immediately  afterwards  vanished  out  of  their  sight, — becoming 
invisible  to  them,  as  the  original  expressly  says, — doubtless,  by 
the  closing  of  their  spiritual  sight,  which  had  previously  been 
opened.  They  instantly  returned  with  all  speed  to  Jerusalem, 
to  relate  what  they  had  witnessed  ;  where  "  they  found  the 
eleven  gathered  together,  and  them  that  were  with  them,"  who 
said,  "  The  Lord  is  risen  indeed,  and  hath  appeared  to  Simon." 
This  appearance  to  Simon,  then,  took  place  after  the  two  dis- 
ciples had  left  Jerusalem,  and  before  their  return ;  thus,  doubt- 
less, the  Lord  was  seen  by  Simon  at  Jerusalem,  at  the  very  time 
that  he  was  in  company  with  the  travellers  to  Emmaus ;  a  cir- 
cumstance which  would  be  impossible,  unless  it  be  admitted  that 
his  body  was  no  longer  material  but  divine,  and  possessed,  con- 
sequently, of  the  attribute  of  omnipresence.  It  may,  indeed, 
be  alleged, — and  will,  by  those  who  are  indisposed  to  relinquish 
the  gross  notion  that  his  resurrection-body  was  still  material, — 
that  He  might  have  appeared  to  Simon  either  before  he  joined 
the  disciples  going  to  Emmaus,  or  after  he  had  vanished  at  that 
place  out  of  their  sight,  being  able  to  move  with  such  velocity, 
as  to  overtake  them  in  the  former  case,  or  to  outstrip  them, 
in  the  latter.  But  what  a  degrading  image  does  it  present  of 
our  Lord's  glorified  person,  to  represent  Him  as  posting  back- 
wards and  forwards,  from  place  to  place,  with  incredible  speed, 
and  merely  astonishing  his  disciples  by  amazing  powers  of  loco- 
motion !  Whereas,  how  sublime  and  magnificent  is  the  view, 
which  accounts  for  the  whole  by  attributing  to  the  Lord's  Risen 
Person  the  attribute  of  Omnipresence  !  The  whole  transaction 
is  thus  seen  to  include  nothing  low,  trifling,  and  derogatory  to  the 
truly  divine  character  of  Him  who  is  the  great  agent  in  it;  and 
thus  alone  it  inspires  conceptions  of  perfect  holiness,  dignity,  and 
majesty,  and  fills  the  mind  with  the  reverential  feelings  which 
properly  belong  to  such  a  subject. 

But  let  me  repeat  a  truth  noticed  already.  While  filling  our 
thoughts  with  such  grand  conceptions  as  have  now  been  offered 
of  the  omnipresence  and  other  purely  divine  attributes  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his  Risen  Person,  we  must  never  lose  sight 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  127 


of  the  momentous  fact,  on  which  the  salvation  of  the  human  race 
then,  and  our  salvahility  at  the  present  moment,  was  and  is  en- 
tirely dependent; — that  although  the  Lord's  Resurrection-Body 
was  as  now  shown,  truly  Divine,  it  was  still,  at  the  same  time, 
truly  Human.    He  did  not  lay  down,  or  divest  Himself  of,  the 
Human  Nature,  by  his  resurrection  with  the  attributes  of  omni- 
potence and  omnipresence  ;  but  He  glorified  that  Human  Nature, 
so  as  to  render  it  at  the  same  time  Divine,  and  thus  to  impart 
these  divine  attributes  to  the  body  also.    Though  He  rose  again 
in  all  respects  a  God,  yea,  the  only  God,  his  Humanity  having 
become  the  proper  Personal  Form  of  the  Divinity  and  essentially 
united  therewith ;  yet  He  rose  again  also  a  Man,  but  a  Divine 
Man,  complete.    The  reason  was,  as  the  doctrines  which  we  ac- 
cept as  those  of  the  true  Christian  religion  explicitly  teach,  be- 
cause He  finally  put  off  the  infirm  humanity  which  he  had  by 
his  birth  of  a  human  mother,  thus  ceasing  altogether  to  be  the 
Son  of  Mary,  and  put  on  the  Divine  Humanity  brought  forth 
into  ultimates  from  the  Father  or  Divine  Essence,  which  is  pro- 
perly the  Son  of  God.    All  the  residue  of  the  infirm  humanity 
was,  indeed,  rejected  by  his  death  and  burial ;  but  all  the  fulness 
in  ultimates  of  the  Divine  Humanity  was  put  on  at  his  resurrec- 
tion.   We  should  therefore  gain  but  little,  while  coming  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Lord's  Resurrection- Body  is  purely  Divine, 
were  we  to  losfe  the  conviction  that  He  is  nevertheless  a  Man, — 
God-Man, — having  the  ultimates  of  Human  Nature  in  a  Divine 
Human  Form.    So  essential,  according  to  our  doctrines,  is  the 
maintenance  of  this  conviction^  that  it  is  better,  they  affirm,  even 
to  worship  an  idol,  than  to  lose  the  idea  of  God  as  a  Man.  And 
that  the  Lord  had,  after  his  resurrection,  the  very  ultimates  of 
human  nature,  and  differed  essentially  from  all  mere  spirits,  He 
taught  when  He  said,  "  Behold  my  hands  and  my  feet,  that  it  is 
I  myself :  handle  me  and  see :  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and 
bones,  as  ye  see  me  have."    That  these,  however,  were,  never- 
theless, no  longer  material,  but  divinely-substantial,  having  been 
renewed  as  to  their  very  substance  from  the  Divinity  within,  is 
equally  certain  from  what  we  have  already  demonstrated,  that 
his  Resurrection-Body  was  unconscious  of  the  shackles  of  either 


128 


LECTURE  VIII. 


space  or  time,  and  was  fully  possessed  of  the  purely  divine  attri- 
bute of  Omnipresence. 

But  we  must  hasten  to  a  conclusion.    And  from  all  that  has 
been  advanced  it  may,  I  should  hope,  be  affirmed  with  certainty, 
that  to  consider  the  Lord  Jesus,  after  his  resurrection,  as  being 
still  like  any  ordinary  man, — thus  to  view  Him  as  being  still, 
in  any  respect  the  Son  of  Mary, — and  to  regard  his  Resurrec- 
tion-Body as  anything  lower  than  Divine,  is  to  seek  the  living 
among  the  dead.    There  is  but  one  Living  Principle  in  the  whole 
universe, — in  the  whole  of  the  worlds,  both  moral  and  material ; 
and  this  is  only  in  God  Himself, — yea,  it  is  God  Himself. 
All  things  else  that  live,  live  not  by  anything  of  their  own, 
but  by  the  reception  of  life,   continually  flowing  from  God 
as  light  flows  from  the  sun,  so  that  if  the  life  thus  flowing  from 
God  were  shut  out  from  created  things  a  single  moment,  that 
moment  would  universal  death  envelope  all ;  just  as  the  world 
must  instantly  be  involved  in  darkness,  should  anything  shut 
out  from  it  the  rays  of  the  sun.    All  things  but  God,  then, 
regarded  in  themselves,  are  dead  :  nothing  can  be  called  liv- 
ing but  God  alone.    But  God  is  Life  itself,  not  only  with 
respect  to  his  Essential  Divinity,  but  also  with  respect  to  his 
Divine  Humanity ;  for  Jesus  says,  "  As  the  Father  hath  life  in 
himself,  so  hath  he  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself."  To 
look  then  upon  Jesus  as  in  any  respect  like  a  finite  man,  whether 
this  be  done  by  regarding  him  in  all  respects  as  a  mere  man,  or  by 
allowing  him  to  have  Divinity  somehow  attached  to  him,  but  still 
considering  his  Human  Nature,  even  after  his  resurrection,  as 
not  participating  in  his  Divinity, — this  is  to  seek  the  living 
among  the  dead, — to  reckon  Him  among  the  dead  sons  of  earth, 
who  is  the  Source  of  life  to  everything  that  exists.    It  is  true  that 
the  Apostle  says,  that  our  vile  body  shall  be  fashioned  like  unto 
his  glorious  body ;  but  to  infer  from  hence  that  ours  will  be  the 
same  in  kind  as  his,  is  to  suppose  that,  because  man  was  created 
in  the  likeness  of  God,  he  is  therefore  a  being  of  the  same  kind 
as  God.    God  is  the  Original, — we  are  the  derivations  :  He  is  the 
Source  :  we  are  the  recipients  from  that  Source :  In  one  word,  He 
is  Infinite, — and  we  are,  and  ever  must  be,  infinitely  beneath 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF   THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST.  12& 

Him, — faint,  finite  shadows.  To  imagine  any  other, — to  view 
Him  in  any  lower  a  light, — is  to  seek  the  Living  One  (as  the 
original  term  strictly  signifies)  among  the  dead. 

No !  my  brethren  !  let  us  not  be  guilty  of  this  infatuation. 
Instructed  by  the  voice  of  the  angel,  let  us  learn  to  reverence 
Him  as  we  ought.  Let  us  rise  from  earthly,  low,  carnal  ideas 
of  Him,  to  a  sense  of  His  infinite  greatness.  He  is  not  here  : 
He  is  risen :  and  we  must  rise  in  our  sentiments  if  we  would 
obtain  any  just  conceptions  respecting  Him.  Let  us  remember, 
too,  what  it  is  that  is  risen.  It  is  not  his  Essential  Divine  Nature  ; 
for  this  could  never  for  a  moment  cease  to  be  the  Supreme,  the 
Most  High.  What  is  risen  is  the  Human  Nature,  exalted  to 
perfect  Oneness  with  the  Inmost  Divinity.  Let  us  then  ever 
think  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  even  as  to  his  Human  Nature, 
as  "  God  over  all,  blessed  for  evermore."  Let  us  love  Him  and 
obey  Him  as  such:  and  then,  as  He  declares,  "because  He 
liveth,  we  shall  five  also,"  by  a  participation  of  the  true  fife, 
which,  in  its  essence,  is  Himself.  In  the  language  of  the  Apos- 
tle, "  he  will  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like 
unto  his  Glorious  Body  ;  according  to  the  mighty  working 
whereby  he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself ; — 
which  is  only  another  mode  of  stating  the  great  truth, — that,  by 
the  Omnipotence  which  belongs  to  Him  in  his  Human  Nature, 
He  will  recreate  us  into  the  image  and  likeness  of  God. 


9 


LECTURE  IX. 


THE  REASONABLENESS,  TOGETHER  WITH  THE  SCRIPTURE-EVI- 
DENCE, OF  THE  GREAT  TRUTH,  THAT  IT  WAS  THE  ONE  GOD  HIM- 
SELF, AND  NOT  ANY  SON  OF  GOD  BORN  FROM  ETERNITY,  THAT 
DESCENDED  FROM  HEAVEN,  FOR  THE  PURPOSE  OF  REDEEMING 
AND  SAVING  MANKIND. 


Isa.  ix.  6. 

"  Unto  us  a  child  is  bom,  unto  us  a  son  is  given :  and  the  govern- 
ment shall  be  upon  his  shoulder :  and  his  name  shall  be  called, 
Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father, 
the  Prince  of  Peace.'''' 

My  design  in  the  Lectures  which  I  have  now  for  some  weeks 
been  engaged  in  delivering,  mainly  is,  as  I  have  intimated  before, 
to  convince  those  who  may  be  so  far  interested  in  the  subjects 
announced  as  to  give  them  their  attention,  that  there  is  at  this 
day  a  system  of  religious  doctrine  existing  in  the  world,  to  which 
the  objections  made  by  those  who  are  called  Infidels  against  the 
Christian  religion  in  general  do  not  at  all  apply ;  a  system,  also, 
which  combines  the  advantages  that  the  most  opposite  sects  of 
Christians,  such  as  the  Unitarians  and  the  Tripersonalists,  each, 
respectively,  aim  at  securing  by  maintaining  their  distinguishing 
sentiments  ;  a  system  which  looks  with  shyness  upon  no  class  of 
texts  contained  in  the  Bible,  from  a  feeling  that  they  are  unfa- 
vourable to  itself  and  yield  countenance  to  its  adversaries,  but 
claims  for  its  authority  and  support  the  whole  Word  of  God,  the 
whole  Bible  without  exception.  These  are  high  claims  which  we 
venture  to  put  forth  to  your  attention :  but,  surely  they  are  not 
greater  than  ought  justly  to  belong  to  the  True  Christian  Reli- 
gion. The  True  Christian  Religion,  most  unquestionably,  ought 
to  be  in  harmony  with  all  the  scriptures  of  truth,  and  to  have  the 


REASONABLENESS,  &C,  OF  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  131 

suffrages  in  its  favour  of  genuine  reason  also.  Nor,  in  making  these 
claims  for  the  system  of  doctrine  which  we  believe  to  be  the 
truth,  do  we  arrogate  any  merit  whatever  for  ourselves  ;  for  it  is 
not  of  our  own  invention  ;  and  we  do  not  esteem  ourselves, 
for  having  received  it,  at  all  superior  to  others  who  have  not. 
On  the  same  ground,  we  do  not  impute  blame  to  those  who  adhere 
to  systems  which  we  believe  to  be  erroneous  :  for,  erroneous  or  not, 
they  are  not  the  invention  of  the  present  generation.  We  regard  it 
as  our  duty  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  kindness  towards  all:  in  pro- 
posing sentiments  to  your  consideration  which  we  believe  to  be 
most  true,  and  to  be  conducive  to  the  best  interests  of  man,  we 
mean  to  do  it  with  all  kindness,  deference,  and  respect  for  others. 
I  trust,  therefore,  that  you  will  continue  to  lend  your  most  candid 
and  favourable  attention  to  the  views  which  I  am  to  offer  ;  and 
that,  should  I  be  led,  in  the  course  of  my  observations,  even  to 
speak  strongly  of  doctrines  which  you  may  hitherto  have  fol- 
lowed, that  you  will  not  imagine  any  such  remarks  to  be  of  a 
personal  character,  or  to  be  indicative  of  feelings  of  disrespect 
towards  any  human  being.  After  the  resurrection,  but  before 
the  ascension,  of  our  blessed  Lord,  a  party  of  his  disciples  went 
to  labour  at  their  old  occupation  as  fishermen :  but  that  night, 
the  Evangelist  records,  they  caught  nothing.  Now  this,  though 
truly  a  literal  fact,  had,  we  are  convinced,  a  spiritual  and  typical 
meaning.  When  Jesus  first  called  his  disciples  from  their  nets 
to  be  his  Apostles,  He  said  unto  them,  "  Follow  me,  and  I  will 
make  you  fishers  of  men ;"  by  which  he  obviously  means,  in- 
structors of  mankind  in  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  instruments 
of  bringing  them  into  the  Lord's  Church.  By  its  being  said 
then  of  the  Apostles,  that  they  toiled  all  night,  and  caught 
nothing,  is  representatively  shown,  the  small  fruit  that  attends 
the  preaching  of  the  truth,  while  it  is  taught  as  matter  of  doc- 
trine only,  unaccompanied  with  its  proper  heavenly  affection,  and 
the  teachers  remain  in  the  night  of  their  own  selfhood.  But 
"  when  the  morning  was  come,"  the  same  divine  narrative  adds, 
u  Jesus  stood  on  the  shore  ;"  and  He  said  unto  the  labouring 
Apostles,  "  Cast  the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship,  and  ye 
shall  find."  They  did  so,  and  now,  "  they  were  not  able  to 
draw  it  for  the  multitude  of  fishes."    To  cast  the  net  on  the 


132 


LECTURE  IX. 


right  side  of  the  ship,  denotes,  in  that  symbolic  language  in  which 
the  Word  of  God  is  written,  to  teach  the  truth  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  affections  of  love  and  charity.  This  then  we  acknow- 
ledge to  be  our  duty  ;  and  this  duty  we  endeavor  to  fulfil.  But 
still,  in  order  to  its  being  crowned  with  success,  it  must  be  the 
morning  state  with  the  hearers  as  well  as  with  the  teachers.  The 
heavenly  sun  of  divine  love  and  light  must  be  risen  in  the  east, 
and  must  be  influencing  the  hearts  of  those  who  listen  as  well  as 
of  those  who  speak.'  Let|us  then  now  lift  up  our  hearts  to  the 
Source  of  all  light  and  truth,  with  a  sincere  desire  to  be  rightly 
grounded  in  the  knowledge  of  our  God  and  Saviour,  and  that? 
knowing  Him  aright,  we  may  the  better  perform  his  will,  and  be 
better  prepared  for  beholding  Him  as  He  is  when  our  day  of  pro- 
bation is  ended,  and  the  veil  of  sense  and  nature  is  removed  from 
before  our  eyes. 

Among  the  principal  subjects  which  have  occupied  our  atten- 
tion, and  which  we  have  endeavored  to  establish,  in  our  preceding 
Lectures,  have  been  the  Essential  Nature  of  the  Divine  Object  of 
worship,  as  being  Love  itself  and  Wisdom  itself,  or  Goodness 
itself  and  Truth  itself ;  the  Absolute  Unity,  both  in  Essence  and 
Person,  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship,  with  the  Scripture  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity,  as  being  in  perfect  harmony  with  such  Abso- 
lute Unity. 

According  to  this  view  of  this  sacred  subject,  we  have  one  God 
in  one  Divine  Person  as  our  only  Object  of  worship  :  wherefore, 
having  considered  also,  his  Proper  Personality  and  Divine  Form, 
we  proceeded,  in  our  last  Lecture  but  one,  to  inquire  more 
particularly  Who  this  one  God  is  ;  when  we  endeavoured  to  show, 
that  the  Divine  Name,  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  name  of  Jehovah  in 
his  Humanity  :  and  thus  that  this  is  the  one  God  in  whom  the 
whole  Trinity  centres.  This  we  did  by  considering  various  parts 
of  the  description  of  Jesus  Christ  given  in  the  first  chapter  of 
the  Revelation,  and  comparing  them  with  passages  in  which  the 
same  titles  are  declared,  in  other  parts  of  Scripture,  to  belong  to 
Jehovah  only ;  particularly  that  truly  divine  title,  so  obviously 
descriptive  of  sole,  supreme,  and  exclusive  Divinity,  which  Jesus 
Christ  takes  to  Himself  when  he  says  to  John  the  Divine,  "Fear 
not,  I  am  the  First  and  the  Last."    This  sacred  and  incom- 


REASONABLENESS,  &C,  OF  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  133 

municable  title,  together  with  that  other  most  sublime  divine  de- 
signation which  Jesus  also  indisputably  takes  to  Himself,  as 
being  Him  Who  is  and  Who  Was  and  Who  is  to  come,  which 
is  in  fact  a  translation  of  all  that  is  [expressed  in  the  Hebrew 
word  Jehovah  ; — these  alone,  amid  many  other  evidences  that 
might  be  offered,  irrefragably  demonstate,  that  Jesus  is  Jehovah 
indeed,  and  that  the  divine  name  Jesus  Christ  is  properly  the 
name  of  Jehovah  in  his  Humanity.  But,  as  I  observed  at  the 
same  time,  I  am  perfectly  aware  that  objections  will  arise  in  the 
minds  of  many  to  the  admission  of  this  sentiment.  That  the 
Divine  Being  is  most  absolutely  One,  and  that  the  Trinity  in  the 
Divine  Nature  is  such  as  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  such  Absolute 
Oneness,  are  sentiments  which  most  may  hear  without  surprise, 
and  which  all  who  are  not  strongly  confirmed  in  opposing  doc- 
trines will  be  readily  disposed  to  accept :  but  to  hear  it  affirmed 
that  He  who  appeared  on  earth  in'  outward  form  as  a  man,  and 
who,  though  He  had  no  human  father,  was  actually  born  of  a 
woman,  is  Jehovah  Himself  clothed  with  human  nature ; — this 
will,  I  am  perfectly  aware,  appear  incredible  to  many,  and  repug- 
nant to  the  perceptions  of  natural  reason.  The  doctrine  of 
Jehovah's  assuming  Humanity  is  what  is  called  by  the  prophet, 
whose  words  are  applied  to  the  subject  by  two  Apostles,  "  a  stone 
of  stumbling  and  a  rock  of  offence."  Nevertheless,  that  the 
doctrine  is  true,  follows  of  necessity,  when  it  is  admitted,  that  the 
Unity  of  the  Divine  Nature  is  such  as  to  exclude  all  division  of 
persons,  and  that  there  nevertheless  exists  in  it  a  Trinity,  of 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  We  noticed  the  objection  that  is 
made  against  this  doctrine,  on  the  supposition  that,  if  it  were 
true,  the  Deity  must  have  left  the  throne  of  heaven  vacant,  and 
shut  Himself  up  in  a  body  of  human  flesh  on  earth;  an  objec- 
tion, we  showed,  which  is  only  founded  on  erroneous  concep- 
tions, or  rather  on  total  ignorance,  of  the  Divine  Omnipresence. 
We  also  showed,  that  the  body  or  outward  person  of  Jesus  Christ 
was  produced  not  by  any  local  descent  of  Jehovah  from  heaven, 
but  by  an  emanation  of  the  Divine  Power  and  Virtue ;  which,  like- 
wise, continued  to  operate  upon  it  during  the  whole  time  of  the 
residence  of  Jesus  Christ  on  earth,  gradually  assimilating  it  to  its 
own  nature  :  and  that  this  wonderful  operation  was  finally  com- 


# 

184 


LECTURE  IX. 


pleted  at  his  resurrection  and  ascension,  when  his  Humanity  was 
fully  glorified,  or  assimilated  in  its  nature  to  that  of  the  Divine 
Essence,  so  as  to  be  the  suitable  organ  for  the  exercise  of  the 
Divine  Omnipotence.  This  great  point  was  further  established, 
and  I  hope  conclusively,  in  our  last  Lecture,  when  we  treated  of 
the  Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Divine  Nature 
of  his  Resurrection-Body.  This,  however,  is  a  subject  of  such 
vast  importance,  that  we  shall  take  it  up  again,  and  look  at  it 
under  other  aspects :  at  present  we  will  endeavour  to  remove 
some  other  objections,  and  to  establish  more  firmly  the  great 
truth,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Jehovah  himself  clothed  with  Huma- 
nity, by  endeavouring  to  evince  The  Reasonableness,  together  with 
the  Scripture  evidence,  of  the  great  truth,  that  it  was  the  One  God 
Himself,  and  not,  as  commonly  taught,  a  Son  of  God  born  from 
eternity  that  assumed  Humanity,  for  the  purpose  of  redeeming  and 
saving  mankind. 

It  is  the  very  greatness  of  this  event — that  Jehovah  Himself 
assumed  humanity  for  the  salvation  of  mankind — which  influences 
the  minds  of  so  many  to  deny  it  their  belief.  If,  however,  the 
greatness  of  an  event  be  sufficient  reason  for  questioning  its 
reality,  we  may  carry  our  scepticism  to  extravagant  lengths  indeed . 

That  an  Infinite  God,  possessing  all  fulness- in  Himself,  should 
condescend  even  to  the  work  of  creation,  has  itself  seemed  so 
extraordinary  to  some,  that  they  have  denied  the  fact :  but  as  the 
creation  stands  displayed  before  our  eyes,  and  obvious  to  the 
senses  of  the  most  gross  and  superficial  observer,  so  that  the 
reality  of  its  existence,  in  some  manner,  cannot  be  disputed,  they 
have  ventured  to  put  the  negative  upon  the  other  part  of  the 
proposition,  and  have  denied  that  the  creation  owes  its  origin  to 
a  Creator.  Hence  they  are  called  Atheists,  or  Deniers  of  God. 
But  all  room  for  the  absurd  arguments  of  such  reasoners  would 
be  taken  away,  were  it  generally  and  heartily  acknowledged,  as 
was  endeavoured  to  be  proved  in  former  Lectures,  that  the  first 
attribute  of  the  Divine  Nature,  constituting  the  very  Essence  of 
Deity,  is  Infinite  Love.  As  Love  cannot  rest  without  objects 
whom  it  may  benefit,  it  may  naturally  be  presumed,  since  God 
can  have  no  fellow-gods  to  be  the  objects  of  his  love,  that  his 
Infinite  Wisdom  and  Infinite  Power,  which  are  the  two  other 


REASONABLENESS,  &C,  OF  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  135 

most  essential  of  the  divine  attributes,  would  be  called  into  ex- 
ercise to  create  such  objects  :  and  so  vast  being  the  cravings,  so 
to  speak,  of  Infinite  Love,  we  cannot  wonder  at  beholding  so 
boundless  a  universe  created  from  its  energies.  And  the  same 
great  cause — the  Infinity  of  Divine  Love — will  adequately  ac- 
count for  the  other  great  wonder  which  we  are  now  contemplating. 

Many,  it  is  true,  who  allow  that  the  creation  must  have  had  an 
Author,  not  having,  still,  an  adequate  idea  of  the  cause  of  creation, 
as  originating  in  Infinite  Love,  regard  this  other  great  event ; — that 
of  the  Creator's  assuming  Humanity  for  the  benefit  of  his  creation, 
— as  so  much  more  extraordinary,  that  they  refuse  to  admit 
it.  Some  of  these,  taking  a  name  from  their  acknowledgment  of 
God  as  a  Creator,  without  admitting  the  acknowledgment  of 
Him  as  a  Redeemer,  or  the  inspired  volume  which  records  His 
having  become  such,  are  denominated  Deists.  But  beside  these, 
there  are  many  who  are  called  Christians,  who,  while  they  profess 
to  acknowledge  a  Redeemer,  and  confess  that  a  certain  superior 
Being  really  did  become  Incarnate,  will  by  no  means  allow,  that 
the  Being  who  exhibited  this  miracle  of  love  was  the  sole 
Supreme  Being,  Jehovah  himself,  the  creator  of  heaven  and 
earth.  That  the  Infinite  Jehovah  Himself  should  assume  Huma- 
nity, Christians  in  general  unite  with  Deists  to  pronounce  in- 
credible. But  here,  again,  if  it  be  true  that  the  first  attribute  of 
Deity  is  Infinite  Love,  why  doubt  it  ?  Can  anything  necessary 
for  the  well-being  of  the  creation  He  had  formed  be  too  much  for 
such  Love  to  undertake  ?  anything  too  difficult  for  the  Wisdom 
and  Power  belonging  to  it  to  perform  ? 

But  let  the  subject  be  looked  into  a  little  more  deeply.  It 
may  be  asked,  Are  we  absolutely  certain  that  it  was  possible  for 
God  to  create  a  universe,  so  as  that  it  should  be  permanent, 
without  taking  this  method  of  rendering  it  so,  by  uniting  it  with 
Himself'?  The  question,  possibly,  may  surprise  not  a  few. 
Still,  let  it  be  solemnly  inquired,  Have  we  the  means  of  knowing 
with  certainty,  that  the  permanence  of  the  creation  could  have 
been  secured,  without  the  Creator's  uniting  it  with  Himself,  by 
actually  clothing  Himself  with  the  nature  of  the  being  whom  He 
had  placed  at  its  head  ?  "Most  certainly  it  could,"  multitudes 
will  be  ready  to  answer:  "  God  is  Omnipotent,  and  Omnipotence 


136 


LECTURE  IX. 


can  do  whatsoever  it  pleases  : — Undoubtedly,  we  reply  ;  Omni- 
potence can  do  whatsoever  it  pleases; — but  why?  Simply, 
because,  whatever  end  it  wishes  to  accomplish,  it  can  provide 
the  means  necessary  for  effecting  it.  But  to  advance  to  the 
accomplishment  of  its  ends  without  the  provision  of  appropriate 
means,  is  as  impossible  to  Divine  Omnipotence,  as  it  is  for  a  man 
to  execute  any  piece  of  neat  workmanship  without  arms  and 
hands.  Thus,  for  instance,  every  one  must  be  sensible,  that 
God  could  not  have  created  the  great  masterpiece  of  his  visible 
workmanship,  man,  such  as  he  actually  is,  without  creating 
a  world  for  him  to  dwell  on,  and  vegetables  or  animals  designed 
for  his  food  :  these,  therefore,  were  first  produced,  as  means  to 
an  ulterior  end  ;  which  end  was,  that  man  might  exist.  In  like 
manner,  it  might  easily  be  shown,  that  the  world,  with  man 
himself,  is  but  created  as  a  means  to  a  still  further  end  ;  which 
is,  that  a  heaven  might  exist,  formed  of  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect.  Thus  it  is  obvious,  that  neither  this  end  nor  the 
former  could  be  accomplished,  even  by  Omnipotence  itself,  ex- 
cept by  the  production  of  the  means  necessary  to  their  existence  ; 
and  the  very  essence  of  Omnipotence  consists  in  this, — in  being 
able  to  produce  the  means  by  which  the  purposes  of  Infinite 
Love  and  Wisdom  may  be  brought  into  effect. 

Now  to  apply  this  to  the  probable  necessity,  in  order  to  the 
permanence  of  the  creation,  that  the  Creator  should  conjoin 
Himself  with  his  rational  creatures  by  the  assumption  of  Human 
Nature. 

In  order  to  the  continuance  in  existence  of  the  beings  who 
had  been  created,  it  is  evident  that  there  must  be  a  perpetual 
communication  of  a  principle  of  life  from  Him  who  is  self-ex- 
istent. It  is  no  less  evident,  that  this  life  could  not  be  possessed 
by  them  a  moment,  independently  of  such  continued  communi- 
cation, without  their  being  self-existent  likewise :  and  to  make 
them  such,  is  plainly  beyond  the  reach  of  even  Divine  Omnipo- 
tence ;  because  this  would  be  to  create  other  Gods.  It  is  then 
perfectly  clear,  that  creation  cannot  be  continued  a  moment, 
either  in  heaven  or  in  the  world,  without  a  continual  communi- 
cation to  rational  beings  of  a  principle  of  life  from  the  Self- 
existent.    But  (as  could  easily  be  proved  had  we  time  to  go  into 


REASONABLENESS,  &C,  OF  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  137 

that  enquiry)  the  natural  world,  and  man  as  to  that  part  of  him 
by  which  he  is  an  inhabitant  of  the  natural  world,  is  the  basis, 
as  it  were,  on  which  the  heavens  rest,  comparatively  as  the  ex- 
ternal world  is  the  basis  on  which  man  rests ;  it  follows,  there- 
fore, that  the  heavens  themselves  cannot  fee  rendered  permanent 
unless  their  basis  be  so ;  and  as  all  permanence  depends  upon  a 
conjunction  with  the  Self-subsisting,  it  is  evident  that  such  con- 
junction must  be  established  between  man,  in  his  state  while  in 
the  world,  and  God.  Now  suppose  that  there  were  no  means  by 
which  tins  could  be  effected,  except  by  God's  condescending  to 
take  the  Human  Principle  on  Himself,  and  to  glorify  or  assimi- 
late it  to  his  own  Divine  Nature,  by  letting  himself  down,  as  it 
were,  in  a  wonderful  manner,  into  it ;  but  that,  when  this  was 
effected,  the  divine  communications  of  life  and  all  good  could 
be  conveyed  from  the  Divine  Humanity,  thus  assumed,  into  the 
imperfect  human  nature  of  man,  and  thus  the  permanence  of 
creation  be  secured.  This  then,  we  are  satisfied,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  fall  of  man  evince,  was  the  case.  This,  there- 
fore, was  the  design  of  the  Incarnation  of  Jehovah,  and  this  the 
first  great  benefit  resulting  from  it.  By  this  grand  operation, 
the  Creator,  after  having  first  produced  his  work,  as  it  were  in- 
vested Himself  with  it ;  as  a  man  puts  on  a  garment  which  he 
has  previously  prepared.  As,  also,  a  man  could  not  put  on  a 
material  garment  unless  he  had  a  natural  body  adapted  to  such 
a  covering;  so  neither  could  the  Creator  clothe  Himself,  as  it 
were,  with  his  visible  creation,  till  He  had  invested  Himself,  as 
his  proper  body,  with  a  Divine  Natural  Principle,  or  with  a 
Divine  Human  Nature.  Considered  under  another  image,  the 
universe  thus  became,  in  a  manner,  a  body,  of  which  God,  as  to 
his  Divine  Humanity,  is  the  soul ;  and  which  he  can  uphold,  by 
a  communication  of  life  imparted  from  Himself,  for  ever; — the 
immediate  life  of  all  created  existence  being  an  emanation  pro- 
ceeding from  his  Divine  Humanity. 

Such  a  conjunction,  then,  of  his  creation  with  Himself,  the 
Divine  Being  must  have  had  in  view  from  the  commencement  of 
creation,  and  before  it :  and  this,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  He 
effected,  by  taking  Humanity  of  a  virgin  mother.  This  is  what 
Paul  means,  when  he  speaks  repeatedly  of  "  the  eternal  pur- 


138 


LECTURE  IX. 


pose"  of  God,  and  of  His  "  purpose  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  Accordingly,  this  His  purpose  God  himself  announced 
from  the  very  beginning  of  the  records  of  Divine  Revelation,  by 
the  prediction,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the 
serpent's  head ;  and  more  plainly  afterwards  in  many  sublime 
prophecies  ;  such  as  that  quoted  by  Matthew  from  Isaiah  : 
"  Behold,  a  virgin  shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son  ;  and  ye  shall 
call  his  name  Immanuel ;"  "  which,"  as  the  evangelist  adds, 
"being  interpreted,  is,  God  with  us."  I  am  well  aware  of  the 
interpretation  which  the  infidel  Paine  and  the  German  Ra- 
tionalists, who  herein  are  joined  by  the  Unitarians,  give  of  this 
prophecy,  affirming  that  it  relates  to  a  child  who  was  to  be  born 
to  the  prophet  Isaiah ;  but  supposing  it  to  have  an  immediate 
and  very  imperfect  reference  to  the  prophet's  son,  (whose  name, 
however,  was  not  called  Immanuel,  but  Maher-shalal-hashbaz,) 
this  does  not  prevent  its  pointing  principally  and  ultimately  to 
Him  who  was  truly  and  literally  born  of  a  virgin,  of  whom  the 
son  born  to  the  prophet  was  a  type,  and  who  was  in  truth  by 
nature  Immanuel,  or  God  with  us.  The  prophet  announces 
that  a  virgin  should  conceive  and  bear  a  son  ;  and  the  evangelist 
declares  that  a  virgin  was  with  child  and  brought  forth  a  son ; 
and  the  Eternal  Father  was  the  sole  agent  who  caused  her  to 
bear  this  Son  ;  for,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  no  proper  Son  of 
God  ever  existed  before.  This  Son  then  could  be  no  other  than 
a  Human  Form  adapted  for  the  full  indwelling  of  the  Divine 
Essence  from  which  it  originated  ;  according  to  the  Lord's  state- 
ment when  He  says,  "  The  Father  which  dwelleth  in  me." 
Most  completely,  then,  was  Jesus  intitled  to  the  name,  "  Imma- 
nuel, God  with  us  ;"  He  being  God  by  virtue  of  the  indivisibility 
of  the  Divine  Essence,  which  dwelt  in  Him  bodily,  so  that  He 
was  truly  God  in  a  human  personal  form  ;  and  He  being  God 
with  us,  the  otherwise  unapproachable,  inconceivable  Divine 
Essence  was  thus  brought  into  a  manifestation  capable  of  being 
approached,  known,  and  apprehended  by  his  creatures.  Thus 
were  they  enabled,  also,  to  enter  into  states  of  permanent  con- 
junction with  Him,  and  thus  to  enjoy  eternal  life  ;  according  to 
his  own  words  :  "  He  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead, 
yet  shall  he  live  ;  and  he  that  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall 


REASONABLENESS,  &C,  OP  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  139 

never  die."  He  that  was  born,  then,  is  God  with  us,  and  God 
alone.  It  was  the  One  God  Himself  who  thus  invested  Himself, 
with  Human  Nature  ;  and  when  respect  is  had  to  the  greatness 
of  the  end, — the  salvation  of  the  human  race  and  the  permanent 
conjunction  of  the  creation  with  the  Creator, — to  the  fact,  that 
this  great  enfl  could  no  otherwise  be  accomplished, — and  to  the 
inconceivable  ardor  of  that  Infinite  Love  which  burnt  in  the 
breast  of  Deity  for  its  accomplishment ; — then  the  grand  trans- 
action is  seen  to  be,  however  admirable  and  stupendous,  not 
more  wonderful  than  credible,  and  most  reasonably  worthy  of 
adoring  acceptance. 

This  view  of  the  origin,  the  necessity,  the  design,  and  the 
mode  of  accomplishment,  of  the  assumption  of  Humanity  by 
Jehovah  himself,  must  surely  tend  to  remove  the  objections 
which  may  at  first  present  themselves  to  the  mind  on  hearing 
such  a  doctrine.  But  when  it  is  seen  .further,  that  the  Human 
Nature  and  Form  thus  assumed  is  not  that  of  mere  human  na- 
ture, but  that,  by  a  glorifying  process,  as  shown  in  our  last 
Lecture,  it  was  perfectly  assimilated  to  the  Divine  Nature,  every- 
thing partaking  of  human  infirmity  being  removed; — then  every 
consideration  is  afforded  that  can  make  the  whole  doctrine  of 
the  assumption  of  Humanity  by  Jehovah  perfectly  credible  in 
itself,  and  perfectly  satisfactory  to  the  rational  mind.  Even  the 
natural  body,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  was  conceived  of  Jehovah, 
and  was,  as  to  its  inmost  principles,  divine  from  conception,  having 
for  its  inmost  soul  the  whole  Divine  Essence.  The  Divine 
Essence,  while  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  living  as  a  man  in  the 
world,  was  in  the  continual  effort  to  assimilate  the  assumed  Hu- 
manity to  itself.  In  the  interior  forms  of  that  human  nature  a 
glorifying  process  was  going  on,  from  the  first  to  the  last  mo- 
ment of  his  life.  The  Divine  Principle  within  kept  descending 
lower  and  lower,  imparting  its  own  divine  nature  to  the  interior 
forms  of  the  human  essence  in  succession  ;  extirpating  everything 
that  partook  of  human  infirmity, — everything,  in  fact,  that  was 
derived  from  the  mother ;  but  yet  retaining  every  human  prin- 
ciple entire,  though  rendered  infinitely  perfect  and  truly  divine. 
When  all  that  belongs  to  man  beyond  or  above  the  mere  shell 
of  clay  had  been  submitted  to  this  wonderful  process,  the  cruci- 


140 


LECTURE  IX. 


fixion  took  place :  and  then  the  merely  human  life  being  alto- 
gether extinct,  the  divine  life  descended  to  the  extremes  of  the 
bodily  frame,  renewing  the  whole  by  its  descent.  This  fully 
accomplished,  He  arose  again  with  his  human  form  complete, 
nothing  being  lost  or  left  behind, — a  truly  Divine  Man,  having 
in  his  Glorious  Person  everything,  and  every  principle,  which  is 
found  in  the  constitution  of  man,  but  all  perfectly  assimilated 
in  nature  to  the  pure  Divinity  Itself.  In  this  Divine  Humanity, 
therefore,  He  is  truly  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  First  and 
the  Last, — the  very  immediate  Esse  or  Source  of  being  to 
everything  that  exists,  the  immediate  Upholder  and  Supporter 
of  all  things,  both  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Thus  the  child 
once  born,  the  son  once  given,  is  of  a  truth  the  Mighty  God,  the 
Everlasting  Father,  upon  whose  shoulders,  of  right,  the  go- 
vernment rests,  and  to  whom  belong  glory  and  dominion  for 
ever. 

These  remarks,  I  cannot  but  hope,  will  be  sufficient  in  some 
measure  to  evince  the  reasonableness  of  the  sublime  and  most 
important  doctrine,  that  it  was  the  One  God  Himself,  and  not 
a  Son  of  God  born  from  eternity,  that  descended  from  heaven 
for  the  purpose  of  redeeming  and  saving  mankind.  Part  of  the 
Scripture  evidence  of  the  same  great  truth  has  also  been  brought 
forward  ;  and  more  will  presently  be  adduced.  But  pehaps  it 
may  be  useful  first  to  say  a  little  more  on  the  subject  of  the 
Son  of  God  that  the  Scriptures  speak  of,  and  to  show  that  they 
lend  no  countenance  to  the  notion  of  a  Son  of  God  born  from 
eternity. 

As  we  have  shown  that  there  is  truly  a  Trinity  in  the  Divine 
Nature,  though  such  a  one  as  is  not  incompatible  with  the  indi- 
visible unity  of  the  Divine  Person,  and  that  the  three  Essentials 
of  Deity  composing  this  Trinity,  are  what  are  called  in  the  New 
Testament  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit ;  it  may  at  first 
seem  extraordinary  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  Son  of  God  from 
eternity.  What  is  meant  to  be  denied  is,  not  the  existence  from 
eternity  of  the  second  Essential  of  the  Trinity,  but  the  propriety 
of  calling  it  the  Son  of  God,  before  the  incarnation.  The  Son  of 
God,  in  all  the  Scriptures  is  used  as  the  name  of  the  Divine 
Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ, — of  the  Human  Nature  put  on  in  the 


REASONABLENESS,  &C,  OF  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  141 

*  world  :  and  this  certainly  did  not  exist  actually  till  thus  assumed- 
In  the  annunciation  to  the  virgin  by  the  angel  Gabriel,  it  is 
declared  to  her,  "  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the 
power  of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee  ;  wherefore  also  that 
Holy  Thing  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son 
of  God:"  that  is,  in  the  well-known  idiom  of  the  Hebrew  and 
Hellenic  languages,  "  shall  be  the  Son  of  God."  That  the  Son 
of  God  is  then  the  proper  title  of  the  Humanity  assumed  in  the 
world,  is,  from  this  passage,  unquestionable.  The  Lord's  Divine 
Nature  was  not  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary  :  such  a  thought  would 
be  monstrous  in  the  extreme.  What  was  thus  born  was,  and 
could  be,  the  Human  Nature  only.  But  it  was  that  which  was  so 
born  that  is  expressly  denominated  the  Son  of  God. 

In  agreement  with  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  find  no  mention 
of  a  Son  of  God  ever  made  in  the  Old  Testament,  except  pro- 
phetically, and  in  plain  reference  to  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Can  it  be  supposed,  that  if  there  had  been  a  Son  of  God,  pro- 
perly so  called,  from  eternity,  mankind  would  have  been  left 
without  any  intimation  whatever  of  his  existence  during  the  whole 
period  over  which  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament  extend, — in 
fact,  according  to  the  Scripture  chronology,  for  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  amount  of  the  present  age  of  the  world, — 
from  the  beginning  of  creation,  to  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ? 
The  translators  of  the  English  Bible  have  indeed  made  Nebu- 
chadnezzar speak  of  the  Son  of  God  as  being  seen  walking  with 
the  three  pious  Jews  in  the  fiery  furnace  :  but  all  the  learned  ac- 
knowledge that  this  is  a  mistranslation,  and  that  Nebuchadnezzar 
did  not  mean  to  denominate  the  being  he  saw  the  Son  of  God, 
but,  agreebly  to  his  notions  as  a  heathen,  a  Son  of  the  Gods, — 
that  is,  as  he  is  expressly  denominated  a  few  verses  below,  an 
angel.  The  passage  in  which  the  Redeemer  is  most  expressly 
promised  under  the  title  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  in  the  second 
Psalm,  where  the  inspired  Psalmist,  speaking  in  the  person  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom  he  often  represents,  says,  "  I  will  declare 
the  decree :  The  Lord  hath  said  unto  me,  Thou  art  my  Son  : 
this  day  have  I  begotten  thee  :"  which,  all  acknowledge,  does  not 
relate  to  the  existence  of  a  Son  of  God  from  eternity,  but  to  his 
approaching  birth  in  time.    There  are  also  two  passages  in  which 


142 


LECTURE  IX. 


the  Redeemer  is  promised  under  the  name  of  a  Son  in  Isaiah. 
The  first  is  that  which  we  have  already  noticed  in  the  seventh 
chapter.  "  Behold,  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  Son,  and 
ye  shall  call  his  name  Immanuel :"  which  obviously  relates,  not 
to  any  Son  of  God  previously  existing  from  eternity,  but  to  the 
Humanity  that  was  to  be  born  of  the  virgin  Mary.  The  other 
passage  is  that  which  we  have  read  as  a  text :  "Unto  us  a  child 
is  born,  unto  us  a  son  is  given  ;  and  the  government  shall  be  upon 
his  shoulder :  and  his  name  shall  be  called,  Wonderful ;  Coun- 
sellor, the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
peace."  Evidently,  this  prophecy  also  relates  to  a  Son  who  was  to 
be  born,  not  to  a  Son  of  God  already  born,  according  to  the 
solecism  commonly  in  use,  from  eternity.  Most  certain  then  it 
is,  that  there  is  not  any  intimation  given  in  all  the  Bible  of  any 
Son  of  God,  except  the  Human  Form  produced  and  assumed 
by  Jehovah  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  virgin  Mother. 
The  second  Essential  of  the  Divine  Trinity,  as  it  existed  before 
the  incarnation,  is  called  "  the  Word:"  of  which  it  is  said,  in  the 
opening  of  John's  Gospel,  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God."  The 
Word  is  obviously  the  Divine  Truth,  which  cannot  exist  in  sepa- 
ration from,  but  only  in  the  most  perfect  union  with,  the  Divine 
Good  or  Love,  forming  therewith  one  God,  one  Divine  Person. 
This  Word,  it  is,  as  is  expressly  declared,  a  few  verses  below  in 
the  same  chapter,  which  was  "made  flesh:" — and  when  thus 
made  flesh,  or  brought  into  an  outward  and  natural  manifestation 
for  the  salvation  of  beings  in  this  natural  state  of  existence,  it 
takes,  with  its  new  form,  a  new  name,  and  is  called  the  Son  of 
God.  Search  the  Scriptures  for  yourselves,  my  friends  and 
brethren,  in  regard  to  this  subject :  and  you  will  find  this  to  be 
the  plain  amount  of  their  testimony,  from  one  end  to  the  other. 
In  the  Old-Testament-period,  the  Son  of  God  is  announced  as  to 
be  born :  in  the  New  Testament  it  is  related  that  he  was  born 
accordingly :  but  neither  in  the  Old  Testament  nor  the  New  is  any 
intimation  given  of  a  Son  of  God  born  from  eternity. 

Clear  enough  then,  I  apprehend,  you  will  admit  it  to  be,  that  it 
was  not  any  being  properly  called  a  Son  of  God  from  eternity, 
— especially  that  it  was  no  being  existing  separately  as  a  Divine 


REASONABLENESS,  &C,  OF  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  143 

Person  distinct  from  the  One  Jehovah, — that  descended  from 
heaven  to  redeem  and  save  mankind ;  but  that  it  was  the  One 
Jehovah  Himself,  yet  i#re  especially  as  to  the  second  Essential 
of  his  nature,  which  is  the  Divine  Truth,  that  condescended  to 
this  act  of  Infinite  Love. 

This  great  truth,  that  it  was  the  One  God  Himself  who,  by 
assuming  Humanity,  became  the  Redeemer  and  Saviour  of  man- 
kind, is  further  demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that  the  prophets  con- 
tinually apply  these  tides,  and  that  exclusively,  to  Jehovah  Him- 
self.   To  recite  some  passages  from  Isaiah  alone.    First,  as  to 
the  title  of  Saviour  :  "  I  am  Jehovah  thy  God,  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel,  thy  Saviour,"  (xliii.  3).    "  I,  even  I,  am  Jehovah,  and 
beside  me  there  is  no  Saviour"  (ver.  11).    "  Verily,  thou  art 
a  God  that  hidest  thyself,  O  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour"  (xliv.  15). 
Next,  as  to  the  title  of  Redeemer  :  "  I  will  help  thee,  saith 
Jehovah  and  thy  Redeemer,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel"  (xli.  14). 
"  Thus  saith  Jehovah  your  Redeemer,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel" 
(xliii.  14).    "  Thus  saith  Jehovah  thy  Redeemer,  and  he  that 
formed  thee  from  the  womb:  I  am  Jehovah  that  maketh  all 
things,  that  stretcheth  forth  the  heavens  alone,  that  spreadeth 
abroad  the  earth  by  myself,"  (xliv.  24).    "  Thus  saith  Jehovah 
thy  Redeemer,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel :  I  am  Jehovah  your  God" 
(xlviii.  17).     "As  for  our  Redeemer,  Jehovah  of  hosts  is  his 
name,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,"  (xlvii.  4).  "  Thus  saith  Jehovah, 
the  Redeemer* of  Israel  and  his  Holy  One"  (xlix.  7).    "  With 
everlasting  kindness  will  I  have  mercy  on  thee,  saith  Jehovah 
thy  Redeemer"  (liv.  8).    "  Thou,  O  Jehovah,  art  our  father,  our 
Redeemer ;  thy  name  is  from  everlasting,"  (lxiii.  16).    Lastly,  as 
to  both  titles  together  :  "  All  flesh  shall  know  that  I,  Jehovah,  am 
thy  Saviour  and  thy  Redeemer,  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob," 
(xlix.  26).    "  Thou  shalt  know  that  I,  Jehovah,  am  thy  Saviour 
and  thy  Redeemer,  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob,"  (lx.  16).  Now 
when  the  Redeemer  and  Saviour  is  mentioned,  what  Christian 
ever  thinks  of  any  other  Being  than  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ? 
He  "  hath  obtained  eternal  redemption  for  us,"  (Heb.  ix.  12). 
"  He  came  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquities,  (Tit.  ii.  14). 
"  Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people 
from  their  sins,"  (Mat.  i.  21).    "  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any 


144  LECTURE  IX. 

other,  for  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given  amongst 
men  whereby  we  must  be  saved,'"  (Acts,  iv.  12).  So,  Jesus  is  the 
only  Saviour.  But  the  prophets  declai^that  this  is  only  true  of 
Jehovah  Himself:  "lam  Jehovah,  and  beside  me  there  is  no 
Saviour" — "  a  just  God  and  a  Saviour ;  there  is  none  beside  me." 
But  all  is  explained,  when  we  acknowledge,  that  Jesus  and 
Jehovah  are  one  and  the  same  Omnipotent  God  ;  Jesus  being  the 
name  which  He  took  when  He  assumed  the  Humanity,  in  and  by 
which  he  accomplished  the  works  of  redemption  and  salvation  ; 
and  Jehovah  being  the  name  by  which  He  previously  revealed 
Himself,  and  engaged  to  accomplish  those  works,  and  thus  to 
become  eternally  the  Saviour  and  Redeemer. 

Combining  together  all  that  has  now  been  offered,  I  would 
fain  hope  that  the  propositions  which  it  was  the  design  of  this 
Lecture  to  establish  will  be  seen  to  be  true  :  namely,  That  it  was 
the  One  God  Himself,  and  not  any  Son  of  God  born  from  eternity, 
that  descended  from  heaven  for  the  purpose  of  redeeming  and 
saving  mankind;  and  That  this  doctrine  is  both  highly  reasonable 
in  itself,  and  is  supported  by  the  most  conclusive  Scripture- 
testimony.  We  have  seen  that,  for  anything  that  any  one  can 
show  to  the  contrary,  it  might  have  been  impossible  for  the  Cre- 
ator to  have  provided  for  the  permanent  existence  of  his  creation, 
except  by  conjoining  it  with  Himself,  by  clothing  Himself  with 
the  nature  of  the  being  whom  He  had  placed  at  the  head  of  it, 
and  for  whose  sake,  and  thus  through  whom,  all  the  inferior  parts 
of  the  creation  were  called  into  existence.  And  if  the  first 
Essential  of  Deity  is  Infinite  Love,  we  may  be  sure  that  there  is 
nothing  too  great  for  the  God  of  love  to  undertake,  nothing  too 
much  for  him  to  condescend  to,  to  perpetuate  the  existence,  and 
to  advance  the  happiness,  of  his  rational  creatures.  As  to  the 
notion  that  it  was  not  the  One  Jehovah  Himself,  but  a  Son  of 
God  born  from  eternity,  that  assumed  Humanity  for  this  pur- 
pose ;  this,  we  have  ascertained,  is  a  notion  both  absurd  and 
self-contradictory,  viewed  by  the  eye  of  reason,  and  for  which 
there  is  not  even  a  shadow  of  foundation  in  the  Word  of  God  ; 
there  being,  throughout  the  Old  Testament,  no  trace  of  a  Son  of 
God  as  then  existing  ;  and  the  Old  Testament  uniting  with  the 
New  in  testifying,  that  that  which  is  denominated  the  Son  of 


REASONABLENESS,  &CM  OF  DESCENT  OF  THE  ONE  GOD.  145 


God,  is  the  Humanity  conceived  by  the  power  of  the  Highest 
and  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  So,  we  find,  the  Old  Testament 
most  copiously  testifies  that  Jehovah  himself  is  the  Saviour  and 
Redeemer,  and  that  there  is  none  beside  him ;  while  the  New 
Testament  proves  that  there  is  none  beside  Jesus  Christ;  fully 
evincing  that  it  was  Jehovah  Himself  who  thus  assumed  Hu- 
manity, and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  no  other  than  the  Supreme  and 
Only  God  manifested  in  the  flesh.  May  no  minute  reasonings, 
the  result  of  partial  views  and  defective  information,  preclude  any 
of  us  from  the  benefits  consequent  upon  the  acknowledgment  of 
this  glorious  truth  !  All  objections  as  will  be  still  further  seen 
in  our  succeeding  Lectures,  vanish  into  nothing,  when  placed 
before  the  radiance  of  pure  Divine  Truth,  or  when  the  genuine 
truth  in  regard  to  the  subjects  of  them  is  brought  to  fight.  Let 
us  then  submit,  in  heart,  and  mind,  and  fife,  to  be  the  willing 
and  consistent  subjects  of  Jehovah  in  his  Humanity ;  acknow- 
ledging that  Humanity  to  be  the  Child  born,  the  Son  given ;  and 
that  his  name  therein,  as  expressive  of  his  inherent  attributes,  is 
"  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting 
Father,  the  Prince  of  peace." 


10 


LECTURE  X. 


THE  REASONABLENESS,  AS  WELL  AS  SCRIPTURE-EVIDENCE,  OF 
THE  IMPORTANT  TRUTH,  THAT  THE  ASSUMPTION  OF  HUMANITY 
INTO  GOD,  INSTEAD  OF  LIMITING  THE  DIVINE  INFINITY  AND  OM- 
NIPOTENCE, AFFORDED  THE  MEANS  OF  THEIR  MORE  FULL  MA- 
NIFESTATION AND  EXERCISE. 


Exod.  VI.  2,  3. 

"  And  God  spake  unto  Moses,  and  said  unto  him,  I  am  Jehovah: 
and  I  appeared  unto  Abraham,  and  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob, 
by  the  name  of  God  Almighty  ;  but  by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not 
known  to  them" 

In  points  of  religion,  when  any  doctrine  is  proposed  which  is 
thought  to  be  new,  that  single  circumstance  is  alone  considered 
by  great  numbers  of  persons, — by  all  those  of  limited  conceptions 
and  merely  common-place  and  vulgar  minds, — a  sufficient  reason 
for  pronouncing  it  to  be  wrong.  In  all  other  matters,  improve- 
ments are  looked  for  as  things  of  course,  and  no  one  is  pre- 
judiced enough  to  imagine,  that,  in  them,  novelty  must  neces- 
sarily be  synonymous  with  error  :  yet,  in  theology,  this  is 
assumed  by  many  as  an  infallible  rule  of  judgment.  This  is 
not,  however,  the  rule  of  judgment  with  those,  whose  judgment 
is  worthy  of  attention.  Only  to  instance  the  much  respected 
Dr.  Watts.  He,  in  his  very  popular  work  on  the  Improvement  of 
the  Mind,  makes  these  truly  intelligent  and  candid  observations : 
"  Every  age,  since  the  Reformation,  hath  thrown  some  further 
light  on  difficult  texts  and  paragraphs  of  the  Bible,  which  have 
been  long  obscured  by  the  early  rise  of  Antichrist ;  and  since 
there  are  at  present  many  difficulties  and  darknesses  hanging 
about  certain  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  and  since  several 
of  these  relate  to  important  doctrines, — as  the  origin  of  sin, 


DIVINE  INFINITY,  &C,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED.  147 


the  fall  of  Adam,  the  person  of  Christ.,  the  blessed  Trinity,  and 
the  decrees  of  God,  &c. — which  do  still  embarrass  the  minds  of 
honest  and  enquiring  readers; — it  is  certain  that  there  are  several 
things  in  the  Bible  >/ct  unknown  and  unexplained  ;  and  it  is  cer- 
tain that  there  is  some  way  to  solve  these  difficulties,  and  to 
reconcile  these  seeming  contradictions."  And  he  adds  a  little 
afterwards,  "  Happy  is  every  man  who  shall  be  favoured  of 
heaven  to  give  a  helping  hand  towards  the  introduction  of  that 
blessed  age  of  light  and  love  !"  These  are  the  sentiments  both 
of  genuine  intelligence  and  of  genuine  piety.  Dr.  Watts  had 
discernment  to  perceive,  and  candour  to  acknowledge,  that  there 
were,  in  his  day,  many  difficulties  and  darknesses  hanging  about 
certain  truths  of  the  Christian  Religion ;  he  particularly  men- 
tions, as  involved  in  those  difficulties  and  darknesses,  the  doc- 
trines respecting  the  person  of  Christ  and  the  blessed  Trinity  : 
and,  most  certainly,  no  views  upon  these  subjects  have  been 
offered,  tending  in  any  degree  to  dissipate  these  difficulties  and 
darknesses,  since  the  time  of  Dr.  Watts,  except  in  those  doc- 
trines to  which  I  am  endeavouring,  in  these  Lectures,  to  invite  a 
little  attention.  That  further  light  than  is  afforded  in  the 
doctrines  commonly  held  at  this  day,  is  to  be  expected  in  regard 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  is  evident  from  this  consideration  alone,  that  those  doc- 
trines take  all  that  is  contained  in  the  Lord's  discourses  in  the 
Gospels  respecting  Himself  and  the  Father  in  the  most  super- 
ficial and  purely  literal  sense  that  his  words  will  admit :  whereas 
the  Lord  Himself  expressly  teaches  that  He  does  not  mean  to 
be  thus  superficially  understood,  but  that  all  that  he  said  re- 
specting Himself  and  the  Father  is  spoken  in  a  figurative  man- 
ner. When  concluding  his  long  discourse  with  his  disciples 
contained  in  the  latter  part  of  John,  from  chap.  xiii.  to  xvi., 
He  says,  "  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  in  proverbs," 
or,  as  it  is  given  in  the  margin,  "  in  parables."  This  is  a  plain 
declaration,  that  all  that  he  had  before  said  respecting  his 
Father,  was  spoken  in  the  way  of  parable  :  and  yet  it  is  always 
taken  by  theological  writers,  and  the  framers  of  creeds,  as  if  it 
were  spoken  in  the  plainest  terms, — as  if  all  his  meaning  were 
obvious  upon  the  very  face  of  his  words, — and  thus  as  if,  when 


148 


LECTUEE  X. 


he  speaks  of  his  Father,  he  spoke  of  a  Divine  Person  different 
from  Himself.  Evidently,  then,  according  to  this  divine  decla- 
ration, doctrines  thus  framed  must  be  mixed  with  error :  and  it 
cannot  be  unreasonable  to  expect,  that,  at  some  time  or  other, 
the  truth'would  be  discovered.  Accordingly,  this,  also,  is  ex- 
pressly asserted  in  the  same  divine  statement  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  He  does  not  merely  say,  "  These  things  have  I  spoken 
unto  you  in  proverbs  (or  parables,)"  but  he  adds,  further,  "  the 
time  cometh  when  I  shall  no  more  speak  unto  you  in  proverbs 
(or  parables^,  but  shall  show  you  plainly  of  the  Father."  To 
Christians  in  general,  has  that  time  ever  come  yet  ?  Whatever 
clearness  of  perception  the  apostles  themselves  might  receive 
respecting  it  after  the  day  of  Pentecost,  certainly,  such  plainness 
has  never  yet  been  general  in  the  Church.  Disputes  respecting 
the  person  of  our  Lord,  and  his  relation  to  the  Father,  arose  in 
the  very  first  ages  ;  and  the  decisions  of  the  council  of  Nice, 
and  the  Athanasian  Creed,  tended  still  more  to  involve  the  sub- 
ject in  obscurity.  Does  the  Christian  Church,  as  existing  gene- 
rally at  the  present  day,  possess  the  promised  plain  knowledge 
of  the  Father  ?  Is  it  to  be  found  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
as  commonly  maintained  ?  Alas  !  what  pretensions  to  plainness 
can  be  claimed  for  a  doctrine,  whose  advocates  prepare  the 
minds  of  their  disciples  for  receiving  it,  by  telling  them  that 
they  must  never  hope  to  understand  it, — that  it  is,  in  truth, 
utterly  incomprehensible  ?  Surely,  with  the  promise  in  our  bibles 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  of  the  relation  of  the  person  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Father  should  be  made  plain ,  and  with 
the  knowledge  which  we  all  have  that  in  the  doctrines  of  all 
Christian  Churches  at  present  existing  it  is  avowedly  anything 
but  plain,  we  ought  at  any  rate  to  look  with  candour  upon  any 
new  view  which  professes  to  clear  the  doctrine,  from  its  obscu- 
rity, and  which  boldly  claims,  and  not  without  good  grounds, 
when  fairly  examined,  to  make  the  subject  at  least  consistent, 
and  to  combine  in  its  favour  all  the  suffrages  of  Reason  and  all 
the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures.  I  cannot  but  think  that  all 
whose  minds  are  not  fully  occupied  by  pre-conceived  opinions, 
must  allow  this  to  be  the  case  with  respect  to  the  view  that  has 
been  given  in  our  previous  Lectures  of  the  absolute  Unity,  both 


DIVINE  INFINITY,  &C,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED.  149 

in  Essence  and  in  Person,  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship,  and 
of  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as  being  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  most  Absolute  Unity.  No  one  can  easily  stifle 
the  plain  dictates  of  reason,  which  here  strive  to  make  themselves 
heard  ;  and  no  one  can  easily  put  aside  the  express  declarations 
of  Scripture,  which  here  assert  precisely  the  same  thing  as  is 
dictated  by  reason.  The  view  of  the  Trinity  then  which  regards 
the  Father,  not  as  a  separately  existing  Person,  but  as  the 
inmost  Divine  Essence, — the  Son,  also,  not  as  another  sepa- 
rately existing  Person,  but  as  the  personal  Form,  the  Manifesta- 
tion to  created  beings,  of  the  existence  of  that  Inmost  Divine 
Essence, — and  the  Holy  Spirit,  again,  not  as  a  third  separately 
existing  Person,  but  as  the  Influence  and  Operation  of  the 
Divine  Essence  and  Divine  Person  in  conjunction  on  human 
minds  ; — the  view  which  thus  finds,  that  man  was  truly  created, 
as  is  declared  in  the  beginning  of  the  Bible,  in  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God,  his  soul  being  formed  as  a  finite  image  of  that 
Divine  Essential,  which,  in  the  language  of  proverb  and  parable 
in  which,  we  have  seen,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  always  spoke  upon 
this  subject,  is  called  the  Father, — his  body  being  formed  as  a 
finite  image  of  the  Divine  Essential,  called,  in  the  same  divine 
language,  the  Son, — and  the  influence  and  operation  of  his  soul 
and  body  in  union  on  persons  and  things  around  him,  being  a 
finite  image  of  the  Divine  Essential  called  in  the  same  manner 
the  Holy  Spirit ; — this  view  of  this  sublime  subject,  must,  allow 
me  to  say,  recommend  itself  to  every  unprejudiced  lover  of 
truth,  of  Scripture,  of  Christianity,  and  of  consistency.  But 
still,  as  I  have  remarked  in  former  Lectures,  when  it  is  stated 
as  a  consequence  of  this  doctrine,  that  it  was  the  one  Infinite 
Jehovah  Himself,  and  not  any  separate  and  subordinate  being 
or  person,  that  assumed  Humanity  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ,  I  am  aware,  that  many  will  feel  a  degree  of  repugnance 
against  admitting  the  assertion.  It  may  be  thought,  that  for 
God  thus  to  unite  himself  with  manhood,  would  limit  his  in- 
finity and  restrict  his  omnipotence.  To  meet  the  objection 
drawn  from  the  very  greatness  of  such  a  transaction,  and  of  the 
divine  condescension  implied  in  it,  on  the  supposition  that  the 
Being  who  thus  assumed  Humanity  was  the  Infinite  Jehovah 


150 


LECTURE  X. 


Himself,  I  last  Lord's  day  evening  endeavoured  in  some 
measure  to  evince,  the  Reasonableness,  together  with  the  Scripture 
Evidence,  of  the  great  truth,  that  it  was  the  One  God  Himself,  and 
not  any  Son  of  God  born  from  eternity,  that  descended  from 
heaven  for  the  purpose  of  redeeming  and  saving  mankind.  In  the 
present  and  another  Lecture,  I  will  endeavour  to  meet  what 
further  objections  may  remain,  by  some  observations  in  behalf  of 
the  Reasonableness,  as  well  as  Scripture  Evidence,  of  the  important 
truth,  that  the  assumption  of  Humanity  into  God,  instead  of  limiting 
the  Divine  Infinity  and  Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  their 
more  full  Manifesta  t  ion  and  Exercise. 

I  have  in  part  taken  the  language  of  this  proposition  from  the 
Athanasian  Creed.  In  that  creed,  though  it  has  been  the  means 
of  establishing  a  most  erroneous  doctrine  respecting  the  Divine 
Trinity,  in  consequence  of  its  making  that  Trinity  a  Trinity  of 
Persons,  and  affirming  each  Person  "  by  himself,"  to  be  God  and 
Lord,  yet  many  things  relating  to  the  important  subject  are 
laid  down  with  great  accuracy  and  just  discrimination.  Only 
change  the  word  Person  to  the  word  Essential  and  avoid  saying 
that  each  of  these,  by  himself,  is  "God  and  Lord, — and  then  the 
whole  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  relating  to  the  Trinity  will  be  in 
perfect  agreement  with  the  truth.  So,  likewise,  all  that  is  said 
of  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  incarnation, 
is  in  perfect  agreement  with  the  truth,  provided  some  parts  of  it 
be  understood  of  his  Humanity  in  its  unglorified,  and  others  in 
its  glorified  state.  This  part  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  even  con- 
tains distinctly  the  statement  of  the  analogy  between  the  Lord's 
Divinity  and  Humanity,  and  the  soul  and  body  of  man,  which  I 
have  so  much  insisted  on  in  these  Lectures.  It  says,  that 
"although  he  be  God  and  Man,  yet  he  is  not  two,  but  one 
Christ;  one,  not  by  the  conversion  of  the  Godhead  into  flesh, 
but  by  the  taking  of  the  Manhood  into  God ;  one  altogether, 
not  by  confusion  of  substance,  but  by  unity  of  person."  Then 
comes  the  memorable,  and  most  accurate  illustration:  "For  as 
the  reasonable  soul  and  flesh  is  one  man,  so  God  and  man  is  one 
Christ."  Thus  the  doctrine  that  we  wish  to  recommend,  that,  in 
the  person  of  the  Lord,  the  Divinity  is  as  the  soul  and  the  Hu^ 
manity  as  the  body,  though  most  are  struck  when  they  hear  it 


DIVINE  INFINITY,  &C,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED.  151 

as  by  something  altogether  new,  is  as  old,  at  least,  as  the  Atha- 
nasian  Creed.  But  how  the  Humanity,  or  the  Manhood,  was 
taken  into  God,  is  a  matter  that  may  require  a  little  further  ex- 
planation, before  we  can  see  clearly,  that  this  wonderful  divine 
operation,  instead  of  limiting  the  Divine  Infinity  and  Omnipo- 
tence, as  most  may  suppose  would  be  the  consequence  while 
they  do  not  understand  what  is  meant  by  it,  afforded  the  means 
of  their  more  full  manifestation  and  exercise.  I  have  indeed 
treated  of  the  subject,  in  different  terms,  in  several  of  our  late 
Lectures  ;  but,  to  meet  the  imputed  difficulty  before  us,  we  will 
now  consider  it  from  a  somewhat  different  point  of  view. 

The  difficulty  that  arises  in  most  minds  when  they  hear  of  the 
assumption  of  Humanity  by  the  One  God  Himself,  and  the  im- 
pression they  feel  as  if  this  were  the  way  to  limit,  and  not  to 
extend,  the  operations  of  Infinity  and  Omnipotence,  arises  from 
the  supposition  which  we  have  before  shown  to  be  erroneous, 
that  the  human  nature  assumed  was,  and  continued  to  be,  merely 
that  of  ordinary  human  beings :  for  how  this  could  actually  be 
taken  into  God,  and  be  made  the  medium  or  instrument  of  a 
more  full  exercise  of  Divine  Omnipotence,  would,  assuredly,  be  a 
mystery  indeed.  Conceive,  however,  that  Jehovah,  by  such  as- 
sumption of  Humanity,  brought  Himself,  in  a  manner,  into  nearer 
contact  with  the  world  of  nature,  and,  in  fact,  with  all  created 
existence ;  and  then  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  apprehending 
that  such  an  adjunction,  instead  of  tending  to  limit  his  Infinity 
and  restrict  his  Omnipotence,  tended,  in  fact,  to  afford  the  means 
of  their  more  full  manifestation  and  exercise. 

But  in  order  to  make  the  Reasonableness  of  this  mode  of  pro- 
viding for  man's  salvation  a  little  more  apparent,  let  us  see  if  we 
can  illustrate  it  by  a  comparison  or  two,  drawn  from  philoso- 
phical considerations. 

It  is  first  necessary  to  premise,  that  man  can  have  no  spiritual 
excellencies,  but  what  he  receives  from  God;  neither  could  he 
ever  receive  any,  did  not  God  first  induce  some  modification  on 
his  own  divine  perfections,  and  present  them  in  a  form  adapted 
to  man's  capability  of  reception.  Man,  also,  is  not  endowed,  at 
his  creation,  or  birth,  with  a  portion  of  the  life,  both  spiritual  and 
natural,  necessary  for  his  subsistence,  in  a  detached  form,  se- 


152 


LECTURE  X. 


parated  from  its  source,  as  a  bottle  of  water  taken  from  the 
ocean  ;  but  he  receives  his  life  by  continual  renewals  from 
moment  to  moment,  in  the  same  manner  as  heat  and  light  are 
received  by  the  earth  from  the  sun ;  which  cease  to  abide  on  any 
part  of  its  surface,  the  moment  that  part  turns  away  from  that 
luminary.  Now  philosophers  are  beginning  to  perceive,  that  no 
heat  or  light  whatever  could  be  conveyed  from  the  sun  to  the 
earth,  were  not  the  immense  space  between  them  occupied  by  at- 
mospheres, or  ethereal  fluids,  serving  as  vehicles  for  the  conveyance 
of  heat  and  light  from  the  one  body  to  the  other.  Without  this, 
the  earth  could  experience  no  proof  of  the  sun's  existence  ;  and,  of 
course,  must  remain  entirely  unproductive.  To  give  it,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  such  conductors  of  heat  and  light,  any  experience  of  the 
sun's  existence,  it  must  not  revolve,  as  now,  in  a  distant  orbit,  but 
must  be  brought  into  immediate  contact  with  that  luminary  ;  the 
consequence  of  which  would  be,  the  earth's  destruction  ;  for,  solid 
as  it  is,  it  would,  by  such  an  intense  fire,  be  instantly  consumed. 

Now  this  similitude  exactly  applies  to  the  nature  of  the  com- 
munication between  God  and  man.  What  the  sun  is  to  the 
natural,  God  is  to  the  moral  world.  It  would  have  been  vain, 
— indeed,  impossible, — for  God  to  have  created  human  minds, 
without  the  interposition  of  mediums  for  the  conveyance  to  them 
of  life  from  Himself.  Supposing  it  possible  for  the  frame  of  man 
to  have  been  formed  at  all,  it  would  have  remained  destitute  both 
of  natural  and  of  spiritual  life ;  since,  as  we  have  seen,  these 
could  not  be  infused  into  it  as  its  own,  independently,  but  could 
only  be  imparted  by  a  continual  efflux  from  their  Divine  Source. 
But  if  man  were  to  be  brought  into  immediate  contact  with  the 
Source  of  life,  the  effect  to  him  would  be  as  fatal,  as  would  be  to 
the  earth  an  immediate  contact  with  the  sun.  Even  the  distant 
sight  of  the  naked  Divinity,  were  that  possible  without  an  inter- 
vening medium  (which  it  is  not,)  would  be  too  much  for  a  created 
being  to  bear  ;  whence  Jesus  Christ  says  in  the  gospel,  "  No  man 
hath  seen  God  (meaning,  the  unclothed  Divinity)  at  any  time." 
And  Jehovah  said  to  Moses,  when  he  desired  to  behold  him, "  Thou 
canst  not  see  my  face  ;  for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and  live." 

Seeing  then  an  immediate  communication  with  the  pure  Di- 
vinity would  be  instantly  fatal  to  a  created  being ;  and  yet  man 


DIVINE  INFINITY,  &C,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED.  153 


could  not  live  a  moment,  or  possess  any  endowments  of  will  or 
understanding,  without  some  kind  of  perpetual  communication 
with  his  God  ;  it  follows,  that  God  must,  in  some  way,  from  the 
beginning  of  creation,  have  veiled  over  the  brightness  of  his 
glory  to  make  Himself  at  all  apprehensible  to  his  creatures,  and 
even  to  convey  to  them  life  and  being.  As  the  light  and  heat  of 
the  sua  cannot  be  conducted  to  the  earth  except  by  the  medium 
of  the  ethereal  fluids  interposed  between  them,  so  neither  could 
the  love  and  wisdom,  and  thus  the  life,  of  God,  be  imparted  in  a 
suitably  accommodated  form  to  men,  unless  some  spiritual  medium 
of  an  appropriate  nature  were  produced,  from  the  Divine  Being 
himself,  for  their  reception  and  conveyance. 

When,  however,  we  thus  use  natural  images  to  suggest  some 
idea  of  these  transcendant  subjects,  we  must  be  careful  not  to 
regard  the  life,  love  and  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  vehicles  for 
conveying  them  to  man,  as  being  things  of  a  material  nature,  or 
the  former  as  being  communicated  in  exactly  the  same  manner 
as  the  heat  and  light  of  the  sun  are  conveyed  to  the  earth. 
That  they,  in  like  manner,  stand  in  need  of  mediums  for  their 
conveyance,  there  cannot  be  a  shadow  of  doubt ;  but  that  these 
mediums  are  of  a  purely  spiritual  kind,  of  the  nature  of  which 
we  cannot  form  an  adequate  idea  while  we  are  natural  beings  in- 
habiting a  material  world,  is  most  certain,  and  must  be  kept  in 
remembrance. 

This  similitude,  of  the  manner  in  which  heat  and  light  are 
conveyed  from  the  sun  to  the  earth,  seems  well  adapted  to  illus- 
trate the  manner  in  which  heavenly  gifts  are  conveyed  from  the 
Sun  of  righteousness  to  the  human  mind  ;  evincing  that  some 
medium  or  mediums  must  be  required  for  the  purpose.  But 
perhaps  this  truth  will  be  seen  more  distinctly,  if  we  advert  to 
another  comparison,  drawn  from  the  manner  in  which  the  soul 
of  man  is  enabled  to  produce  effects  in  the  world  of  nature 
inhabited  by  the  body. 

The  soul,  we  know,  is  a  spiritual  substance,  the  native  and  heir 
of  a  spiritual  world ;  in  which  it  will  dwell,  in  company  with 
beings  like  itself,  when  separated  from  its  terrestrial  partner. 
But  spiritual  beings,  we  know,  have  a  spiritual  language,  suited 
to  the  state  in  which  they  are  ;  as  is  proved  by  the  experience  of 


154 


LECTURE  X. 


the  Apostle  Paul.  When  he  was  caught  up  into  heaven,  he  de- 
clares that  he  heard  things  which  it  is  not  possible  (as  the 
passage  is  rightly  translated  in  the  margin)  for  man  to  utter  :  by 
which  he  instructs  us,  that  when  he  was  in  a  state  like  that  of 
the  angels  he  understood  their  language,  but  that  when  he 
returned  into  his  natural  state,  he  could  not  express  what  then 
he  heard.  In  order,  therefore,  that  the  soul  may  exercise  an 
operation,  and  express  its  sentiments  in  the  natural  world,  it 
must  be  invested  with  the  natural  organs  of  speech  and  action, 
which  are  supplied  to  its  use  by  the  natural  body.  It  must,  in 
fact,  be  clothed  over  with  an  encompassing  veil,  as  a  medium  for 
bringing  its  sentiments,  feelings,  and  exertions,  within  the  appre- 
hension of  other  beings  in  a  natural  state  of  existence.  So,  it 
may  easily  be  seen,  must  the  Father  of  spirits,  the  Infinite 
and  Eternal,  clothe  Himself  in  like  manner  with  something 
answering  to  a  human  body,  before  his  life,  and  especially  his 
divine  perfections,  can  be  brought  into  a  form,  capable  of  being 
received,  and  in  any  degree  apprehended,  either  by  angels  or 
men. 

Let  us  now  see  how  these  suggestions  and  illustrations  from 
reason  and  philosophy,  agree  with  the  views  presented  in  the 
Scriptures  of  truth. 

To  suppose,  as  most  appear  to  do,  that  the  world  was  created 
by  a  word  spoken,  without  the  intervention  of  any  medium  be- 
tween the  Deity  Himself  and  the  objects  of  his  creation,  is  to 
form  a  vague  idea,  which,  if  looked  into,  will  be  found  to  imply 
a  contradiction.  Most  true  it  is,  as  the  Psalmist  declares,  that 
"by  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made,  and  all  the 
hosts  of  them  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth  :"  but  to  suppose  the 
•meaning  of  this  to  be,  that  they  were  all  spoken  into  being  by  a 
mere  command,  is  to  attach  a  meaning  to  the  passage  which  may 
satisfy  those  who  can  accept  a  poetical  hyperbole  for  a  reason, 
but  which  they  who  look  for  an  efficient  cause,  will  see  is  impos- 
sible to  be  the  sense  intended.  The  word  of  the  Lord  which 
made  the  heavens  is  a  Divine  Truth  proceeding  as  a  spiritual 
emanation  from  Him.  That  it  does  not  signify  a  mere  word 
spoken,  is  evident  from  the  manner  in  which  the  same  thing  is 
stated  in  the  beginning  of  John:  "In  the  beginning  was  the 


DIVINE  INFINITY,  &C,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED.  155 

Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God. — 
By  him  were  all  things  made,  and  without  him  was  not  anything 
made  that  was  made."  This  evidently  implies, — especially  when 
the  subsequent  verses  are  included, — that  the  Word  by  which 
were  made  the  heavens  and  all  things,  was  not  a  mere  speech  or 
command,  which  was  ended  as  soon  as  uttered,  but  was  a  sub- 
stantial (not  material)  emanation  from  the  inmost  of  Deity,  con- 
veying divine  things  into  a  sphere  below  their  Origin,  and  thus 
producing  the  wonders  of  creation,  and  imparting  life,  both 
natural  and  spiritual,  to  the  things  created  ;  according  to  what  is 
said  in  the  same  passage  of  John  ;  "  In  him  was  life,  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men."  Thus  this  emanating  life  was,  in  a 
manner,  to  the  Divine  Essence,  what  the  body  of  a  man  is  to  his 
soul, — the  medium  by  which  the  soul  makes  itself  apprehensible, 
and  produces  effects,  in  a  sphere  below  that  in  which  itself  is 
stationed. 

It  is  proper,  however,  here  to  note,  to  prevent  misapprehension, 
that  what  is  called  in  Scripture  the  Word,  and  also  the  Truth,  is 
not  truth  by  itself,  as  the  mere  term  might  lead  us  to  conclude, 
but  is  truth  in  most  intimate  union  with  goodness  ;  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  rays  of  the  sun,  though  striking  us  more  percep- 
tibly as  light,  are  not  light  by  itself,  but  light  in  combination 
with  heat.  In  the  Divine  Essence  itself,  as  we  have  seen  in 
former  Lectures,  is  Love  united  with  Wisdom  ;  and  in  the  sphere 
which  emanates  thence,  the  same  principles  exist  in  similar 
union,  but  in  a  lower  order.  That  combination  of  love  and 
wisdom  which  exists  in  the  Divine  Essence  itself,  and  that  which 
proceeds  from  it,  are  also  similarly  united,  the  whole  together 
forming  a  perfect  One;  and  when  they  are  considered  in  this 
manner,  that  which  is  in  the  Divine  Essence,  though  consisting 
both  of  love  and  wisdom,  is  simply  called  good  ;  and  that  which 
proceeds  from  it,  though  consisting,  again,  of  both,  is  simply 
called  truth.  Before  then  any  creation  could  have  existed,  the 
divine  love  and  wisdom,  as  a  united  One,  subsisting  in  the  Divine 
Essence,  must  have  encompassed  itself  with  the  divine  love  and 
wisdom,  also  as  a  united  One,  emanating  from  it ;  and  this,  not 
being  a  creation,  but  an  outbirth,  as  light  and  heat  are  outbirths 
from  the  sun,  again  composed  with  the  former  a  One;  as  the  body, 


156 


LECTURE  X. 


though  existing  in  a  lower  sphere,  constitutes  a  One  with  the 
soul.  The  former  I  apprehend,  is  what  is  meant  by  "  the  Lord" 
and  by  "  God,"  and  the  latter  by  "  the  Word,"  in  the  celebrated 
passages  already  quoted  :  "  By  the  Word  of  the  Lord  were  the 
heavens  made  :" — "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the 
Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God."  And  on  this 
account,  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  "  the  Word  made  flesh,"  says, 
"  I  proceeded  forth,  and  came  from  God." 

And  here  it  may  be  useful  to  observe,  that  what  is  thus  de- 
nominated the  Word,  which  I  understand  to  be  the  Divine  Love 
and  Wisdom  combined  as  a  One,  proceeding  forth  out  of,  and 
then  encompassing  and  as  it  were  embodying,  the  Divine  Es- 
sence, as  a  substantial  but  not  a  material  emanation  from  it,  is 
doubtless  the  Divine  Principle  which  the  adherents  of  the  Tri- 
personal  System  mistakenly  denominate  the  Son  of  God  born 
from  eternity.  That  this  name  for  it  is  improper,  was  shown  in 
our  last  Lecture,  in  which  it  was  demonstrated,  that  the  Scrip- 
ture never  uses  the  phrase,  "  Son  of  God,"  but  in  relation  to  the 
Humanity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  born  in  time.  It  is,  doubt- 
less, from  the  intimations  given  in  Scripture  respecting  this 
Divine  Principle,  not,  we  have  seen,  as  a  separately  existing 
Son,  but  as  a  proceeding  emanation,  the  theologians  have  formed 
their  notion  and  invented  the  phrase,  of  "  the  Son  of  God  born 
from  eternity."  But  the  misfortune  is  that  they  consider  it  as 
a  person  subsisting  distinctly  from  the  person  of  the  Father ; 
whereas  it  should  be  regarded,  not  as  a  distinct  person,  but  as 
the  immediate  outward  investiture  of  the  Divine  Essence,  con- 
stituting therewith  but  one  Divine  Person,  as  the  body  of  man, 
which  is  the  outward  investiture  of  his  soul,  constitutes  with  it 
but  one  human  person.  I  mention  this  as  supplementary  to 
what  I  said  on  the  Son  of  God  from  eternity  in  our  last ;  and 
also  to  show,  how  the  doctrine  of  the  True  Christian  Religion 
both  corrects  and  explains  the  views  commonly  entertained,  pre- 
serves what  in  them  is  true,  deprives  them  only  of  what  is  in- 
consistent therewith,  corrects  the  improper  terms  in  which  they 
are  expressed,  and  brings  to  light  the  truths,  in  the  misappre- 
hension or  perversion  of  which  their  errors  are  founded. 

Now,  though  it  is  highly  reasonable  to  suppose,  that,  in  his 


divine'infinity,  &c,  more  fully  manifested-  157 

primitive  condition,  man  received  the  divine  love  and  wisdom 
emanating  from  the  Lord  in  a  high  degree  of  purity  ;  yet,  even 
then,  it  must  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  receive,  them  such 
as  they  are  in  the  Lord  himself.  To  do  so,  would  be  to  come 
into  contact  with  the  very  Divine  Essence;  and  this,  as  we  have 
seen,  would  immediately  destroy,  by  complete  absorption  any 
created  being.  Before  then  man,  even  in  his  state  of  integrity, 
could  be  a  subject  of  distinctly  conscious  life,  it  must  have  been 
conveyed  through  some  medium  or  mediums  to  adapt  it  to  his 
state  of  reception.  What  veilings  over,  the  emanations  of  divine 
love  and  wisdom  must  undergo,  before  any  created  being  could 
exist  in  them  and  be  recreated  by  them,  it  is  impossible  for  any 
finite  intelligence  to  affirm  ; — -just  as  it  is  impossible  to  say  how 
near  any  planet  can  exist  to  the  sun,  so  as  to  be  capable  of 
supporting  animal  and  vegetable  life.  The  nearest  is  many  mil- 
lions of  miles  off :  and  though  there  is  not  distance  of  this  kind, 
or  anything  of  space,  between  the  mind  of  man  and  God,  yet, 
doubtless,  something  answering  t6  such  distance  must  exist,  in 
the  difference  between  the  divine  influences,  as  man  is  able 
to  receive  them,  and  the  source  of  those  influences  in  God 
Himself. 

It  is  however  certain,  that  man,  in  his  state  of  integrity,  re- 
ceived the  life,  love,  and  wisdom  of  God,  in  the  first  degree  in 
which  they  become  accommodated  to  the  state  of  any  finite 
being.  And  it  is  equally  certain,  that  when  man  removed  him- 
self to  a  lower  sphere,  in  consequence  of  what  is  called  the  fall, 
— that  is,  in  consequence  of  having  begun  to  lean  toward  self 
instead  of  looking  entirely  to  the  Lord,  he  could  no  longer  re- 
ceive the  inflowing  life  from  the  Lord  in  the  form  in  which  it  had 
previously  been  enjoyed. 

What  then  results  from  these,  I  think  it  may  be  said,  indis- 
putable truths?  What  but  this? — that  if  God  continued,  as 
from  his  Infinite  Love  he  must  do,  to  will  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind, and  to  provide  the  means  to  make  their  salvation  practi- 
cable, He  must  follow  man  in  his  descent,  by  adapting  the 
divine  life,  love  and  wisdom  proceeding  from  Himself  to  the 
altered  state  of  reception  in  the  object  of  his  tenderness.  The 
Divine  Word,  then,  which  in  the  beginning  was  with  God  and 


158 


LECTURE  X. 


was  God,  by  which  the  heavens  were  made,  and  by  which  all 
who  become  inhabitants  of  heaven  must  be  prepared  for  their 
destination,  would  assume  new  forms  and  aspects  suited  to  the 
altered  state  of  those  upon  whom  it  was  to  operate ;  and  thus 
even  the  Divine  Being  Himself  would  present  Himself  under 
some  variety  of  character  to  the  churches  which  were  succes- 
sively raised  up,  to  keep  alive  some  knowledge  and  worship  of 
his  holy  name. 

Here  again  we  have  views  which  may  naturally  be  conceived 
on  such  a  subject  by  Reason  ;  and  we  shall  again  discover  that 
similar  views  are  authoritatively  presented  in  the  Scriptures  of 
Truth.  For  we  there  find  that  the  One  Jehovah  God  actually 
has,  at  various  periods  in  the  moral  history  of  mankind,  mani- 
fested Himself  under  various  characters,  without  any  change  in 
his  own  nature,  and  without*  any  deviation  from  his  unity  and 
identity. 

This  is  plain  from  the  words  which  I  read  as  a  text.  "  God 
spake  unto  Moses  and  said,  I  am  Jehovah  :  and  I  appeared  unto 
Abraham,  and  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  God 
Almighty  ;  but  by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them." 
These  words  clearly  imply,  either  that  the  name  Jehovah  was  not 
assumed  by  the  Divine  Being  till  the  revelation  which  he  gave 
of  Himself  in  the  Scriptures  begun  to  be  written  by  Moses  ;  or 
else,  that  a  name  was  then  resumed  which  had  long  been  disused 
and  forgotten.  At  that  time,  it  is  explicitly  stated,  He  was  not 
known  by  the  name  Jehovah  ;  nor  had  He  been  known  by  that 
name  to  the  patriarchs  ;  nor,  most  probably,  at  any  prior  era. 
"  Jehovah"  is  a  word  of  pure  Hebrew  ;  and  it  is  now  allowed 
that  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  concluding  Hebrew  to  have 
been  the  language  of  Noah  and  of  Adam,  though  this  was  long 
the  popular  opinion.  It  is  true  that  the  name  occurs  almost 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Bible  ;  but  we  are  to  remember  that, 
although  the  book  of  Genesis  records  transactions  of  a  much 
earlier  date  than  the  time  when  God  thus  formally  announced 
Himself  by  the  name  of  Jehovah  to  Moses,  yet  it  was  written 
afterwards  by  Moses  himself,  who,  writing  in  Hebrew  would  be  led 
to  apply  the  name  Jehovah  in  the  same  manner  as  in  his  writings 
which  treat  of  the  Israelitish  history  and  laws.    That  such  is  the 


DIVINE  INFINITY,  &C,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED  159 


fact,  appears  certain  from  what  is  here  said  respecting  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  as  only  knowing  their  God  by  the  name  of  God 
Almighty,  or,  as  it  is  in  the  original,  God  Shaddai ;  for  although 
it  is  here  positively  declared,  that  God  Shaddai  was  the  only  name 
by  which  those  patriarchs  knew  their  God,  yet  we  find  the  name 
Jehovah  constantly  put  in  their  mouths  by  the  sacred  historian, 
whereas  the  name,  God  Shaddai,  does  not  occur  above  once  or 
twice  in  the  whole  of  their  history.  I  know  the  arguments  by 
which  it  is  commonly  maintained,  that  although  the  Lord  here  so 
unequivocally  declares  that  He  was  not  known  to  Abraham  and  the 
others  by  his  name  Jehovah,  they  in  reality  knew  the  name,  but 
did  not  know  him  in  the  character  meant  by  it ;  but,  surely,  the 
mode  just  suggested  of  accounting  for  the  earlier  occurrence  of  the 
name,  is  far  more  consistent  with  the  whole  narrative.  Yet  if  any 
prefer  the  other  hypothesis,  they  are  welcome  to  retain  it ;  since 
this  admits  that  the  Lord  had  not  before  been  known  in  the  cha- 
racter signified  by  the  name  Jehovah  ;  and  this  is  as  much  as  is 
required  for  our  present  argument.  The  text,  however,  positively 
declares,  that  He  was  not  before  known  by  the  name  Jehovah, — 
so  positively,  that  I  see  not  how  it  can  be  allowable  to  maintain 
the  contrary.  A  similar  change  of  names  is  equally  adopted  by 
the  historian  in  regard  to  places :  we  often  find  towns  mentioned 
by  names,  which  it  is  certain,  from  other  passages,  that  they  did 
not  bear  till  long  after  the  date  of  the  transactions  recorded. 
From  all  this  there  is  strong  reason  to  conclude,  that  the  Divine 
Being  did  not  reveal  Himself  by  his  name  Jehovah  till  the  time 
of  his  discovering  Himself  to  Moses  ;  and  it  seems  not  impro- 
bable that  the  name  Shaddai,  the  Hebrew  etymology  of  which  is 
so  unsatisfactor)1-,  and  the  signification  of  the  word  itself  is  so 
uncertain,  as  to  leave  room  for  doubt  whether  it  is  an  original 
Hebrew  word,  was  the  name  by  which  the  Divine  Being  was 
known,  not  only  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  but  by  all  the  descend- 
ants of  Noah.  By  what  name  he  was  known  to  Adam  and  his 
immediate  descendants,  if  by  any  other  than  the  divine  appella- 
tive, "  God,"  it  would  now  be  vain  to  inquire. 
\  Now  what  can  be  the  reason  of  this  formal  and  expressly  re- 

corded change  of  name  in  God's  manifestation  of  Himself  to  his 
creatures  ? 


160 


LECTURE  X. 


None  need  be  told,  that  it  would  be  inconceivably  beneath  the 
infinite  wisdom  and  dignity  of  God  to  assume  different  names 
on  different  occasions  for  the  mere  sake  of  variety.  This  may 
be  sufficient  reason  for  vain  mortals  to  multiply  their  names  ; 
but  we  cannot  suppose  that  God  ever  causes  Himself  to  be  call- 
ed by  a  different  name,  unless  in  reference  to  a  different  mani- 
festation of  character,  of  which  such  name  is  to  stand  as  the 
sign.  Names  were,  indeed,  originally  given,  as  a  reference  to 
the  Bible  will  evince,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  some  pecu- 
liar circumstance,  affecting  the  fortunes  of  the  child  or  his 
parents.  They  were  always  significant :  and  the  names  given  to 
things,  even  at  the  present  day,  are  usually  so  formed,  as  to 
express  the  quality  of  the  things  to  which  they  are  applied. 
Hence  the  word  "  name,"  in  the  spiritual  language  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, always  signifies  the  quality  of  the  thing  to  which  it  is 
attached.  So,  the  names  applied  to  God  are  always  appropriated 
to  denote  some  particular  attribute  in  the  Divine  Essence,  some 
particular  character  by  which  the  Lord  has  revealed  Himself  to 
his  creatures.  When  therefore  God  says  in  our  text,  that  He 
had  not  been  known  to  the  old  patriarchs  by  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah, He  expressly  informs  us,  that  He  was  now  revealing 
Himself  in  a  new  relation  and  character  to  his  church  :  and  this, 
we  have  seen  is  admitted  by  those  who  deny  the  change  of 
name.  The  Lord,  however,  affirms,  that  He  had  not  been 
known  to  the  progenitors  of  the  Israelites  by  the  designation  of 
Jehovah.  Yet  He  at  the  same  time  instructs  us,  that  He  is  the 
same  Divine  Being  who  had  been  known  to  the  ancients  under 
another  name,  relation,  and  character,  One  God,  in  one  Divine 
Person,  though  differently  revealed  to  his  creatures  by  various 
names,  according  to  their  respectively  varying  states. 

This  argument  might  be  greatly  strengthened  by  adverting  to 
the  different  natures  of  the  various  dispensations  of  his  grace, 
as  communicated  according  to  the  varying  necessities  of  man. 
It  is  generally  believed  that  the  intercourse  of  God  with  Adam 
and  his  descendants  was  by  immediate  revelation.  There  is 
good  reason  to  conclude,  that,  with  Noah  and  his  descendants,  it  | 
was  by  a  written  Word,  though  composed  in  a  style  very  dif- 
ferent from  our  Bible.    With  the  Israelitish  church  it  was  by 


DIVINE  INFINITY,  &C.,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED 


161 


the  medium  of  prophets  and  of  the  Word  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment which  they  were  the  instruments  of  writing :  and  to  the 
Christian  church  there  was  given  the  New  Testament  in  addi- 
tion, equally  containing  in  its  bosom  Divine  Truth  itself,  though 
written  in  a  very  different  style. 

Now  if,  at  the  establishment  of  the  church  among  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  God  saw  it  necessary  to  reveal  Himself  by  a  new 
name,  implying,  as  we  have  seen,  a  variety  of  character,  without 
departing  from  the  strictness  of  his  unity  ;  may  it  not  be  con- 
cluded that  there  was  equal  reason  for  his  doing  so,  when  the 
time  had  arrived  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  ancient  prophecies 
which  announced  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  And  may  we 
not  infer  also,  that  when  Jesus  appeared  on  earth,  and  declared 
that  He  and  the  Father  are  One,  and  that  whoso  hath  seen 
Him  hath  seen  the  Father,  He  was  in  reality  the  same  Divine 
Being  who  had  revealed  Himself  to  Moses  as  Jehovah  and  to 
the  patriarchs  as  God  Shaddai;  who  now,  again,  assumed  anew 
character  to  adapt  Himself  to  the  urgent  wants  of  his  people, 
and  to  provide  in  fulness  the  means  of  their  salvation  ?  Is  there, 
in  fact,  any  more  reason  for  supposing  the  Jesus  of  the  New 
Testament  to  be  a  different  Being  from  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old, 
than  there  was  for  imagining  Jehovah  Himself  to  be  different 
from  God  Shaddai?  It  is  in  agreement  with  the  whole  course 
of  the  divine  economy  for  God  to  assume  different  names,  and  dif- 
ferent characters  too,  suited  to  the  varying  nature  of  the  different 
dispensations  of  his  truth  and  grace:  and  if  the  Word  by  which 
the  heavens  were  made,  was  not  as  we  have  seen,  a  Divine  Person 
separate  from  the  Divine  Essence,  but  an  emanation,  of  the 
nature,  comparatively,  of  a  Divine  Body,  with  which  God  en- 
compassed Himself,  to  apply  his  aids  to  the  necessities  of  his 
creatures  before  the  time  arrived  for  his  actual  assumption  of 
Humanity, — is  there  the  least  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Word 
made  flesh  is  any  more  a  separate  Being,  or  can  be  any  other 
than  the  Manifested  Form  of  the  One  Divine  Essence,  put  forta 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  meet  the  wants  of  man  when  sunk  almost 
entirely  into  the  natural  state  of  existence,  and  in  imminent 
danger  of  perishing  altogether? 

This  argument  goes,  first,  to  confirm  the  position  maintained 
11 


162 


LECTURE  X. 


in  our  last  Lecture, — that  it  was  the  One  Jehovah  God  Himself 
who  assumed  Humanity  in  the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  such  was  the  fact :  but  it  goes 
equally  to  establish  our  present  design,  and  to  evince  that  this 
taking  of  Manhood  into  God,  so  far  from  limiting  the  Divine 
Infinity  and  Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  their  more  full 
manifestation  and  exercise.  For,  as  we  have  seen,  when  God 
makes  Himself  known  to  man  by  a  new  name,  or  in  a  new 
character,  it  is  always  in  adaptation  and  accommodation  to  the 
state,  and  the  more  efficiently  to  meet  the  necessities,  of  man- 
kind. He  hereby  evinces,  that  of  a  truth  is  He  able  to  save 
to  the  uttermost, — that  He  can  reach  his  creatures  in  every  con- 
dition,— that  in  the  Infinity  of  his  perfections  there  is  that 
which  is  equal  to  every  emergency, — and  that  nothing  can  arise 
which  is  beyond  the  resources  of  his  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Infi- 
nite Power  put  in  activity  by  his  Infinite  Love.  Accordingly, 
we  find,  that  as  man  passed  through  various  states  of  declension, 
God  followed  him  with  new  dispensations  of  truth  and  grace, 
and  varied  manifestations  of  his  own  name  and  nature.  And 
finally,  when  the  fulness  of  time  had  arrived,  or  when  man  had 
descended  into  such  a  state  as  to  render  all  other  modes  of  opera- 
ting for  his  welfare  ineffectual,  to  carry  on  and  complete  the 
grand  scheme  of  Divine  Mercy,  "  the  Word  was  made  flesh," — 
the  Divine  Essence  clothed  itself  with  humanity  such  as  it  is 
with  men  in  the  world  ;  and,  having  perfectly  purified  and  glori- 
fied the  humanity  assumed,  the  Divinity  united  it  to  itself,  as  a 
medium  for  conveying  the  influences  of  his  love  and  wisdom  to 
man  in  a  form  perfectly  adapted  to  his  state.  How  can  it  be 
conceived  possible  for  God  so  powerfully  and  effectually  to  ope- 
rate upon  frail  and  fallen  man,  as  from  Himself  as  a  Divine 
Man  ?  What  medium  so  suitable  for  conveying  the  divine  life 
and  its  saving  energies  to  human  nature,  as  human  nature  itself 
in  perfect  union  with  the  Divinity  ?  Is  it  not,  then,  clearly  evi- 
dent to  reason,  that  the  taking  of  the  manhood  into  God, 
instead  of  limiting  the  Divine  Infinity  and  restricting  the  Divine 
Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  their  more  full  manifesta- 
tion and  exercise  ?  Does  it  limit  the  power  of  a  man,  when, 
for  the  sake  of  producing  effects  for  which  his  naked  person  is 


DIVINE   INFINITY,  &C,  MORE  FULLY  MANIFESTED.  163 

unadapted,  he  provides  himself  with  a  machine  or  instrument 
suited  to  the  end  in  view  ?  When  he  goes  into  battle,  has  he 
less  ability  to  resist  or  attack  the  enemy,  because  provided  with 
armour  and  weapons  of  proof?  Does  he  limit  his  capacity  for 
moving  an  unwieldly  stone,  on  which  his  bare  hands  can  pro- 
duce no  effect,  when  he  adapts  his  hands  to  the  operation  by 
grasping  in  them  a  lever?  What  the  employment  of  these 
means  or  instruments  is  to  man,  for  the  accomplishment  of 
works  for  which  the  unassisted  strength  of  his  body  is  unadap- 
ted,  the  assumption  of  Humanity,  for  the  performance  of  saving 
operations  on  the  human  soul,  is  to  God.  It  is  the  medium  of 
adapting  the  influences  of  his  Spirit,  or  the  outflowing  life  of  his 
love  and  wisdom,  to  the  state  of  the  object — fallen  man — upon 
whom  they  are  to  be  exerted,  and  of  clothing  them  with  the  power 
necessary  for  the  purpose  in  view. 

Let  it  not  be  objected,  that  to  suppose  the  Lord  to  present 
Himself  to  mankind  in  their  varying  states  under  some  variety 
of  character,  even  to  the  actual  clothing  of  Himself  with  hu- 
man nature,  is  to  regard  Him  as  mutable.  In  Him,  during  all, 
there  could  be  no  real  change.  His  essence  must  ever  be 
unalterably  the  same.  His  varying  his  manifestations  to  suit 
Himself,  in  mercy,  to  the  states  of  his  creatures,  no  more  im- 
plies a  positive  change  in  his  nature,  than  the  different  modes  of 
address  which  a  prudent  man  assumes  in  transacting  business 
with  persons  of  opposite  characters  imply  any  change  in  that 
individual's  real  nature  or  essence.  The  inward  motive  remains 
the  same ;  which  is,  to  accomplish  the  end  in  view  :  and  the 
varying  aspects  assumed  are  no  changes  of  nature,  but  are  only 
a  bringing  forth  into  actuality  of  certain  faculties,  which,  though 
always  possessed  potentially,  would  otherwise  have  remained 
latent  and  undeveloped.  So  the  different  aspects,  which,  under 
different  dispensations,  the  Lord  has  assumed  to  manifest  him- 
self to  his  church,  even  to  the  investing  of  Himself  with  human 
nature  itself,  are  only  a  putting  forth  into  actuality  of  certain 
powers  and  principles  which  were  always  included  in  the  In- 
finity of  Deity  ;  but  wrhich  could  not  be  brought  forth  into  open 
display  till  a  fit  occasion  arose  to  require  it. 

Thus  much  may  suffice  to  have  been  said  on  the  first  part  of 


164 


LECTURE  X. 


the  proposition  undertaken  to  be  elucidated  in  this  and  the  next 
Lecture, — on  the  Reasonableness  of  the  important  truth,  that  the 
assumption  of  the  Humanity  into  God,  instead  of  limiting  the 
Divine  Infinity  and  Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  their 
more  full  manifestation  and  exercise.  The  second  part  of  the 
proposition  has  also,  in  some  degree,  been  illustrated ;  but  in 
our  next  Lecture  we  will  proceed  more  decidedly  to  show,  That 
this  doctrine,  so  agreeable  to  Reason,  is  the  actual  doctrine  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  will  adduce  some  Scripture-evidence  by  which 
it  is  conclusively  established. 

Most  true  it  assuredly  is,  as  has  always  been  admitted  by 
Christians,  that,  by  coming  in  man's  nature,  the  Lord  accom- 
plished a  mighty  work  of  redemption  and  salvation  for  the  hu- 
man race  ;  and  the  true  means  by  which  He  effected  this,  was 
by  the  divine  power  which,  by  his  Humanity  as  the  instrument, 
He  put  forth  for  the  purpose,  and  which  could  not,  in  any  other 
manner,  have  been  adequately  exerted.  What  is  necessary  on 
our  part,  that  we  may  individually  be  benefitted  by  his  saving 
operations,  is,  to  believe  in  this  Saviour  God,  to  apply  to  Him 
for  those  aids  in  our  spiritual  warfare  which  He  has  thus  invested 
Himself  with  power  to  impart,  and  to  combat  against  the  evils 
of  our  nature,  desist  from  them  in  practice,  and  cultivate  the 
graces  of  the  Christian  life,  in  obedience  to  his  commandments. 
So  will  the  Lord's  Omnipotence,  adapted  to  our  needs  by  his 
clothing  Himself  with  Humanity,  be  manifested  and  exercised 
for  our  individual  salvation,  and  we  shall  rise  to  adore  his 
goodness  in  worlds  everlasting. 


lec:ture  xi 


SCRIPTURE-EVIDENCE  OF  THE  IMPORTANT  TRUTH,  THAT  THE  AS- 
SUMPTION OF  HUMANITY  INTO  GOD,  INSTEAD  OF  LIMITING 
THE  DIVINE  INFINITY  AND  OMNIPOTENCE,  AFFORDED  THE 
MEANS  OF   THEIR  MORE   FULL  MANIFESTATION  AND  EXERCISE. 


ISA.  XXX.  26. 

<!  The  light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun,  and  the 
light  of  the  sun  shall  be  sevenfold,  as  the  light  of  seven  days, 
in  the  day  that  the  Lord  bindeth  up  the  breach  of  his  people, 
and  healeth  the  stroke  of  their  wound.'''' 

To  have  any  just  apprehension  of  the  dealings  of  Providence 
with  man  from  the  first  origin  of  the  race,  we  must  have  cor- 
rect ideas  of  the  object  regarded  by  his  Maker  in  calling  him 
into  existence.  We  must  rightly  appreciate  the  motive  that  in- 
fluenced the  Divine  Mind  in  giving  birth  to  the  creation.  These 
subjects,  therefore,  have  been  considered  in  our  preceding  Lec- 
tures, and  in  one  expressly ;  in  which  we  endeavoured  to  show, 
that  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  the  governing  impulse  in 
the  Creator  to  which  man  owes  his  existence,  to  be  a  regard  to 
His  own  glory,  it  being  purely  a  regard  to  His  creature's  happi- 
ness. Love,  we  have  seen,  of  the  most  inconceivably  ardent 
kind,  forms  the  very  Essence  of  Deity  ;  and  as  the  love  of  human 
parents  for  their  offspring,  which  is  an  affection  planted  in  their 
breasts  to  act  as  a  deputy  (so  to  speak)  to  the  love  of  their 
Creator,  prompts  them  to  render  every  kind  office  to  their  chil- 
dren, without  a  thought  of  any  other  return  than  that  which 
they  enjoy  in  seeing  them  thrive  and  be  happy ;  so  the  love  of 
the  Great  Parent  of  all  cannot  be  of  a  less  disinterested  nature, 
nor  differ  from  human  parental  love  in  kind,  but  only  in  degree. 
Human  parental  love,  however,  is  often  blind  and  undiscrimi- 
nating  ;  it  always  desires  the  well-being  of  its  objects  ;  but  it  fre- 


166 


LECTURE  XI. 


quently  takes  such  methods  for  promoting  it  as  defeat  its  design. 
It  is  too  apt  to  forget  the  eternal  law,  that  happiness  cannot 
possibly  be  separated  from  goodness ;  hence  parents,  blind  and 
partial  to  the  very  faults  of  their  children,  too  often  neglect  to 
counteract  them  with  proper  care,  spoil  their  offspring  by  exces- 
sive indulgence,  and  are  rewarded  for  their  pains  by  ingratitude, 
and  by  seeing  those  for  whose  happiness  they  would  have  sacri- 
ficed their  lives,  plunge  into  wretchedness  and  ruin.  It  is  but 
too  true,  also,  that  as  children  repay  the  kindness  of  their  human 
parents  with  ingratitude,  so  many  of  the  children  of  the  Great 
Parent  of  all,  return  His  kindness  in  the  same  manner  ;  and  while 
He  is  perpetually  calling  them  to  happiness  and  heaven,  and  pro- 
viding means  to  accomplish  that  object,  they  turn  a  deaf  ear  to 
his  calls,  refuse  to  avail  themselves  of  the  provided  means,  and 
plunge  into  misery  and  hell.  This,  however,  is  not  occasioned 
by  any  error  in  the  guidance  of  the  Heavenly  Benefactor.  He, 
to  his  infinite  love,  unites  infinite  wisdom ;  and  what  the  one 
attribute  prompts,  the  other  finds  the  means  suited  to  accom- 
plish. But  man,  after  all,  must  be  left  to  his  own  freedom  of 
choice,  since  to  deprive  him  of  this  would  be  to  degrade  him  from 
a  man  into  a  mere  animal ;  whence,  though  divine  love  is  conti- 
nually drawing  him  towards  heaven,  and  divine  wisdom  as  con- 
stantly supplying  the  means  by  which  he  may  ascend  thither, 
still  numbers  are  found  who  prefer  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  sea- 
son, and  persevere  in  rejecting  all  overtures  of  mercy,  till  the  day 
of  time  is  ended,  and  eternity  takes  up,  and  fixes  unalterably, 
the  state  of  life  acquired  here. 

Such  being  the  nature  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  such  the 
motives  with  which  He  created  us,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that 
when  man  forsook  his  primitive  exalted  state,  God  fell  from  his 
grace,  as  is  awfully  asserted  in  the  creeds  of  large  bodies  of 
Christians  ;  or  took  any  less  interest-  in  man's  well-being  than 
before.  Man  could  not,  indeed,  enjoy  the  presence  of  God  so 
nearly  ;  for  whatever  is  in  a  state  of  defilement,  feels  more  pain 
in  the  near  presence  of  Infinite  Purity,  than  it  would  in  the 
darkest  caverns  of  the  infernal  gulf.  As  the  bodies  of  gross  mat- 
ter which  compose  the  planets  cannot  bear  the  close  presence  of 
the  sun,  but  find  a  distant  station,  more  or  less  remote  according 


SCRIPTURE -EVIDENCE  OF  THE   SAME  TRUTH. 


167 


to  their  nature,  in  which  they  can  perform  in  tranquillity  their 
revolutions  around  him,  and  can  enjoy  such  a  measure  of  his 
light  and  heat  as  is  best  suited  to  their  state ;  so  do  human 
minds  find  their  appropriate  station,  in  which  they  can  enjoy 
comparative  rest,  at  a  greater  or  less  distance  from  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  according  to  the  amount  of 
the  defiling  properties  which  are  at  variance  with  His  nature. 
Withdraw  themselves,  however,  as  they  may,  from  the  immediate  , 
presence  of  the  Lord,  He  ceases  not  to  extend  to  them  his  in- 
fluences, and  to  provide  the  means  for  their  return.  Although 
the  comet,  in  its  aphelion,  buries  itself,  as  it  were,  in  the  remotest 
regions  of  space,  removing  to  a  distance  from  the  sun  greater 
than  we  can  attach  an  idea  to,  it  never  can  go  out  of  the  reach  of 
his  influence.  This  follows  it  in  all  its  eagerness  to  escape  from 
his  presence  ;  and  when  the  proper  time  arrives,  he  draws  it  back, 
and  again  places  it  the  full  intensity  of  his  beams.  Such  is  the 
action  of  the  Lord's  spirit  upon  man,  viewed  in  the  aggregate,  as 
existing  from  the  commencement  of  creation  to  the  remotest 
ages  of  futurity.  He  began  his  career  in  a  state  near  to  his 
Maker.  From  thence  he  departed  at  the  fall,  and  by  degrees 
receded  to  the  greatest  distance  possible,  without  the  loss  of  the 
capacity  of  returning  altogether,  from  the  Source  of  heavenly  life. 
The  influences  of  this  Origin  of  good,  never,  however,  forsook 
him.  The  Lord  still  furnished  him  with  the  means  of  salvation, 
imparting  new  dispensations  of  his  truth  and  grace  as  man  cor- 
rupted the  preceding  ones,  and  manifesting  Himself  under  new 
names  and  characters,  as  was  shown  in  our  last,  in  adaptation  to 
man's  varying  states.  At  length,  in  the  assumption  of  Humanity, 
and  of  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom  pro- 
vided means  for  the  complete  return  of  the  wanderer.  And  Pro- 
phecy assures  us,  that  a  church  and  dispensation  shall  finally  be 
raised  up,  in  which  man  shall  fully  be  brought  back,  and  be  re- 
established, without  such  danger  of  his  wandering  again,  in  all 
the  perfection,  and  possibly  in  greater,  than  that  which  he  en- 
joyed at  his  first  creation.  Such  is,  has  been,  and  will  be,  the 
state  of  man  in  the  aggregate,  as  existing  on  this  globe.  Similar 
divine  energies  are  exerted  for  the  preservation  and  salvation  of 
every  individual.    But  here,  as  already  hinted,  failures  will  una- 


16S 


LECTURE  XI. 


voidably  take  place,  because  if  man  did  not  receive  the  divine 
mercies  offered  to  him  in  freedom,  he  could  not  receive  anything 
of  a  spiritual  nature  at  all. 

The  grand  means  by  which  this  blessed  consummation  is  to  be 
accomplished,  is,  we  have  seen,  the  assumption  of  Humanity  by 
Jehovah  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  as  the  idea  that  it 
was  the  One  Infinite  God  Himself  who  assumed  Humanity  for  the 
purpose  of  redeeming  and  saving  mankind,  is  by  some  found  dif- 
ficult of  reception,  and  it  has  been  objected,  that  for  the  Supreme 
God  to  invest  Himself  with  human  nature  would  limit  his  infinity 
and  cripple  the  energies  of  his  almighty  power,  we  grappled  with 
this  imagined  difficulty  in  our  last  Lecture,  in  which  we  under- 
took to  show,  both  from  Reason  and  from  Scripture,  that  the 
assumption  of  Humanity  into  God,  instead  of  limiting  the  Divine 
Infinity  and  Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  their  more  full 
manifestation  and  exercise.  In  proof  of  this  truth,  I  then  ad- 
vanced, and  have  now  corroborated,  what,  I  trust,  must  be  con- 
sidered as  very  strong  evidences  from  reason,  with  some  import- 
ant testimony  from  Scripture  ;  and  I  then  stated  that  I  would  more 
fully  take  up  the  argument  from  Scripture  in  the  present  Lec- 
ture, and  would  more  decidedly  show,  That  this  doctrine  then  as- 
certained to  be  so  agreeable  to  reason,  is  the  actual  doctrine  of  the  Word 
of  God,  and  would  adduce  some  Scripture  evidence  by  which  it 
is  conclusively  established.  This  pledge,  then,  we  are  now  to 
redeem. 

The  doctrine  to  be  established,  be  it  remembered,  is,  That  the 
uniting  of  Divinity  with  Humanity, — or  the  taking  of  the  Manhood 
into  God,  ( as  the  Athanasian  Creed  expresses  it,) — in  the  Person  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  instead  of  limiting  the  Divine  Infinity  and  Om- 
nipotence, afforded  the  means  of  the  fuller  manifestation  and  exercise 
of  those  attributes. 

If  then  we  admit  the  evidence  of  Scripture  upon  the  point, 
nothing  can  be  more  indisputable  than  that  such  was  the  fact. 
In  particular,  we  are  there  explicitly  taught,  that  the  capacities 
of  man  for  understanding  divine  things,  and  for  receiving  heavenly 
graces,  were  greatly  improved  by  the  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ; — that  is,  by  Jehovah's  assumption  of  Humanity  in  his 
Person  ;  or,  what  amounts  to  the  same,  that  thereby  a  light  and 


SCRIPTURE -EVIDENCE  OF  THE  SAME  TRUTH. 


169 


power  were  afforded,  capable  of  enlightening  and  influencing  the 
human  mind  far  more  efficaciously  than  could  ever  be  accom- 
plished before.  How  could  such  a  result  be  produced,  but  be- 
cause, by  the  union  of  Divinity  with  Humanity  thus  effected,  the 
energies  of  the  Divine  Omnipotence  in  acting  upon  human 
minds,  instead  of  being  limited  or  weakened,  derived  the  means 
of  a  more  extended  exercise  ?  Full  and  decided  is  the  sublime 
statement  on  this  subject  delivered  in  the  prophetic  words  which 
I  have  selected  as  a  text  for  this  Lecture  ;  which  declare,  that 
"  in  the  day  when  Jehovah  bindeth  up  the  breach  of  his  people, 
and  healeth  the  stroke  of  their  wound," — which  can  mean 
nothing  else,  but  when  he  shall  have  accomplished  the  work  of 
redemption,  which  all  admit  was  performed  by  Jesus  Christ  in 
his  Humanity, — then  "  the  light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light 
of  the  sun,  and  the  light  of  the  sun  shall  be  sevenfold,  as  the  light 
of  seven  days"  combined  in  one: — which  can  be  nothing  else 
but  a  description,  in  fine  symbolic  figures,  of  the  great  increase  of 
light  and  grace,  which,  on  that  occasion,  thus  in  consequence  of 
the  Lord's  assuming  Humanity,  should  be  imparted  to  mankind. 
This  is  the  prophecy  (and  there  are  many  other  to  the  same  ef- 
fect) :  Has  it  ever  been  accomplished  ? 

In  the  gospel  we  continually  find  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  calling 
man  to  himself,  as  the  Author  of  light  and  life,  to  those  who  re- 
ceive Him  : — and  we  are  always  to  recollect,  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  "  the  Word,"  which,  it  is  said,  "in  the  beginning  was 
with  God,  and  which  was  God,  and  by  which  all  things  were 
made,"  so  that  "  without  it  was  not  anything  made  which  was 
made," — that  He  is  this  "  Word  made  flesh  ;"  so  that  in  what- 
ever He  says  of  Himself,  He  refers  to  Himself  in  this  capacity — 
as  God  Incarnate,  or  clothed  with  Humanity.  Of  Him  before 
the  incarnation  it  is  said,  that  "  in  him  was  life,  and  the  life  was 
the  light  of  men  ;"  indicating,  that  all  the  life  and  light  which 
men  had  at  any  period  enjoyed  came  from  Him  only:  and  of 
Him  when  clothed  with  humanity  it  is  declared,  that  "  That  was 
the  true  light,  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world."  So,  He  says  of  Himself,  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world  : 
he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have 
the  light  of  life."    Again  :  "  As  long  as  I  am  in  the  world,  I  am 


170 


LECTURE  XI. 


the  light  of  the  world."  "  Again  :  I  am  come  a  light  into  the 
world,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  me  should  not  abide  in  dark- 
ness, but  have  the  light  of  life."  And  it  is  the  refusing  to  ac- 
cept the  light  thus  offered  that  is  stated  to  be  the  cause  of  man's 
condemnation :  "  This  is  the  condemnation :  that  light  is  come 
into  the  world,  and  men  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because 
their  deeds  are  evil." 

From  these  testimonies  it  is  perfectly  evident,  that  when  the 
Divinity  was  clothed  with  Humanity  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ,  it  thereby  invested  itself  with  a  power  of  illuminating  the 
human  mind  in  a  manner  that  did  not  before  exist :  the  reason 
was,  because  the  light  of  Divine  Truth  was  thus  adapted  to  the 
state  in  which  man,  stood,  now  that  he  had  fallen  so  low  as  no 
longer  to  be  capable  of  clearly  discerning  divine  things  by  the 
illumination  that  proceeded  from  the  unclothed  Deity ;  from 
which  cause,  also,  divine  things  were  previously  veiled  in  types 
and  figures,  the  meaning  of  which,  likewise,  had  long  ceased  to 
be  understood.  It  is  on  account  of  his  having  thus  adapted  the 
light  of  his  Divine  Truth  to  the  low  state  into  which  man  had 
descended,  that  Jesus  Christ  expressly  says,  that  He  is  the  light 
of  the  world.  The  world,  in  Scripture  language,  means  the 
inhabitants  of  the  world,  as  to  that  part  of  their  constitution 
which  belongs  more  particularly  to  the  world :  thus  it  means 
what,  in  the  language  of  theology,  is  called  the  external  man,  as 
distinguished  from  the  internal  man.  The  illumination  which 
existed  before  the  Lord's  clothing  himself  with  Humanity  was 
such  as  affected  the  internal  man  only,  and  not  the  external : 
wherefore  when  man  had  sunk  entirely  into  his  external  man, 
he  lost  the  capacity  of  understanding  spiritual  things  altogether. 
But  by  assuming  Humanity  in  the  world,  thus  all  that  belongs 
to  a  man  in  the  world,  and  by  perfectly  assimilating  and  uniting 
this  to  the  Essential  Divinity,  the  Lord  invested  himself  with 
the  power  of  enlightening  the  external  man  immediately  from 
himself,  as  well  as  the  internal :  and  this  is  the  reason  why  he 
emphatically  calls  himself  "  the  Light  of  the  world." 

But  the  blessed  effects  to  man  of  the  Lord's  investing  him- 
self with  Humanity,  and  man's  improved  state  in  consequence, 
were  not  confined  to  the  capacity  thus  afforded  him  of  under- 


SCRIPTURE-EVIDENCE  OF  THE  SAME  TRUTH.  171 


standing  divine  things,  or  of  receiving  divine  light.  A  power 
was  likewise  imparted  to  him  of  receiving  spiritual  life  in  a  pro- 
portionate degree  ;  and  thus,  while  he  was  enabled  to  see  divine 
things,  and  to  understand  clearly  the  terms  of  his  acceptance 
with  God,  he  was  empowered  also  to  comply  with  those  terms, 
and  so  to  rise  from  the  death  of  sin  to  a  life  of  righteousness. 
This,  also,  is  evident  from  many  declarations  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  this  which  He  refers  to  when  He  says  so  often, 
that  He  is  "  the  Life  :"  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  tlie 
Life:"  "I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life:"  "I  am  come 
that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly  :"  "  Ye  will  not  come  unto  me  that  ye  might  have 
life :"  with  other  sayings  to  the  same  effect.  Life,  evidently,  is 
something  more  than  light :  and  by  these  declarations  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  is  "  the  Word  made  flesh,"  or  God  clothed 
with  Humanity,  assures  us,  that  man  from  Him  derives  spiritual 
life  as  well  as  spiritual  illumination  :  and  spiritual  life  can  be 
nothing  but  such  a  state  of  the  affections,  as  establishes  in  them 
such  objects  of  attachment  and  motive  to  action  as  originate 
with  the  Lord, — thus,  the  life  of  pure  love  and  charity.  Hence 
it  appears,  that,  in  this  respect  also,  man  derives  incalculable 
benefits  from  the  assumption  by  Jehovah  of  his  nature.  Hereby 
he  is  recreated  with  life,  as  well  as  light,  from  the  Sun  of 
righteousness, — that  sun  which  Malachi  predicts  should  arise  on 
the  world,  and  which  Jesus  Christ  evinced  Himself  to  be,  when, 
on  being  transfigured  before  his  disciples,  "  his  face  did  shine  as 
the  sun,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as  the  light ;"  by  which  ap- 
pearances were  exhibited  in  representative  forms,  the  ardour  of 
divine  light  and  love,  and  the  splendour  of  divine  truth  and 
wisdom,  which  flow  to  animate  and  irradiate  the  heart  and  mind 
of  man  from  the  glorified  or  Divine  Humanity  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  ;  and  which  proceed  thence  with  such  accumulated 
energy,  by  reason  that  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells 
bodily  therein,  and  is  so  modified  thereby,  as  to  be  rendered 
more  apprehensible  to  the  faculties  of  man. 

But  abundant  more  proof  is  at  hand,  to  evince,  that,  para- 
doxical as  it  may  appear  to  some,  by  clothing  Himself  with  Hu- 
man Nature,  the  Lord  really  assumed,  in  a  manner,  a  new  power 


172 


LECTURE  XI. 


of  affecting  the  mind  and  heart  of  man.  It  is  indeed  true  that 
no  change  can  take  place  in  the  Divine  Essence ;  but,  as  re- 
marked in  our  last  Lecture,  a  change  may  take  place  in  the 
mode  of  God's  manifesting  Himself  to- his  creatures:  and  we 
may  be  certain,  if  he  is  truly  possessed  of  infinite  wisdom,  that, 
as  the  state  of  man  changed,  God  would  vary  his  mode  of  mani- 
festing Himself  to  him  and  of  dealing  with  him ;  thus  exhibiting 
himself  under  fresh  aspects,  and  displaying  fresh  powers,  which, 
though  always  inherent  in  the  Divine  Nature,  could  not  be 
brought  into  exercise  till  the  necessary  occasion  arose  for  putting 
them  forth.  That  the  Eternal  Jehovah  really  did  thus  assume 
the  means  of  exerting  a  new  power  of  enlightening  the  human 
mind  and  moving  the  human  heart,  when  He  clothed  Himself 
with  Human  Nature ;  but  that  this  did  not  take  effect  till  the 
Human  Nature  thus  assumed  was  fully  glorified,  and  perfectly 
united,  so  as  to  become  an  indissoluble  One,  with  the  Divine  Es- 
sence ;  which  was  not  till  after  the  Lord's  resurrection  and 
ascension  : — these  are  facts  which  are  evident  from  the  change 
which  He  then  immediately  wrought  in  the  minds  and  under- 
standings of  his  disciples.  Whilst  He  was  engaged  in  his 
ministry,  as  it  is  termed,  on  earth,  He  taught  them,  by  oral 
instruction,  many  things  of  a  spiritual  nature,  and  opened  many 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  He  often  com- 
plained of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  and  want  of  under- 
standing, which  all  his  instructions  were  unable  to  remove  :  but 
which  totally  disappeared  when  He  had  departed  from  the  world 
into  heaven. 

A  more  decided  example  of  the  obtuseness  of  the  disciples' 
apprehension  under  the  Lord's  oral  instructions,  cannot  be  re- 
quired, than  is  afforded  by  the  well  known  fact,  that  although 
He  taught  them  repeatedly  that  his  kingdom  was  not  of  this 
world,  and  predicted  his  death  and  resurrection,  they  remained, 
all  the  time  He  was  personally  with  them,  in  the  common  per- 
suasion of  the  Jews  respecting  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  be- 
lieving that  it  was  to  be  established  with  much  worldly  pomp  and 
splendour.  Some  of  them  even  went  so  far  as  to  desire,  that 
when  he  was  established  in  his  kingdom,  he  would  bestow  on  them 
the  two  chief  dignities,  and  allow  them  to  sit,  the  one  on  his 


SCRIPTURE-EVIDENCE  OF  THE  SAME  TRUTH. 


173 


right  hand  and  the  other  at  his  left.    Indeed,  it  is  perfectly  clear 
that  their  belief  respecting  the  nature  of  his  kingdom,  was  precisely 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Jews  in  general  respecting  the  nature  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah  ;  the  only  difference  being,  that  they  be- 
lieved Jesus  to  be  the  Messiah,  which  the  Jews  in  general  did  not. 
Accordingly,  as  his  death  put  an  end  to  such  expectations  as  these, 
it  threw  them,  notwithstanding  He  had  foretold  it,  into  the  greatest 
despair  ;  insomuch  that,  when  they  heard  the  news  of  his  resur- 
rection, they  could  not  believe  it,  though  He  had  foretold  that 
also.    That,  nevertheless,  with  the  exception  of  Judas,  they  were 
sincere  men,  willing,  when  they  at  last  did  understand  the  design 
of  the  Lord's  coming,  to  exchange  their  expected  corruptible 
crowns  for  incorruptible,  was  fully  proved  by  the  event.  How 
is  it,  then,  that  they  could  not  be  brought  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  object  of  the  Lord's  appearing,  and  to  this  wil- 
lingness to  be  satisfied  with  being  the  subjects  of  a  kingdom  not 
of  this  world,  while  He  abode  on  earth  with  them?  Evidendy, 
because  until  the  Lord's  entire  glorification,  completed  after  his 
resurrection,  a  divine  influence  of  light  and  life,  strong  enough 
to  effect  this  change  in  the  perceptions  of  their  understandings 
and  the  desires  of  their  hearts,  could  not  be  imparted  ;  whereas 
it  was  afforded  in  abundance  after  those  events  had  taken  place. 
This  also  is  expressly  declared,  in  a  passage  slightly  adverted  to 
in  a  former  Lecture.    In  the  same  manner  that  Jesus  had  said 
that  he  was  the  light  of  the  world,  He  "stood  and  cried,  saying, 
If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink.    He  that 
believeth  on  me  (as  the  Scripture  hath  said,)  out  of  his  belly 
shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water."    Water  is  in  Scripture  a  con- 
stant emblem  of  divine  truth  and  knowledge  ;  and  this  Jesus 
here  declares  should  be  received  in  such  abundance  from  Him. 
But  when  V    The  sacred  record  informs  us,  after  he  was  glorified; 
for  it  immediately  adds,  "  This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they 
that  believe  on  Him  should  receive  :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  (or  Spirit 
— for  it  is  the  same  word  in  the  original)  was  not  yet  (given — our 
translators  have  thought  proper  to  put  in,  but  there  is  no  such 
word  in  the  original,  and  the  sense  does  not  require  it ; — the  Holy 
Spirit  was  not  yet,)  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified." 
From  this  passage  we  decidedly  learn,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  or 


174 


LECTURE  XI. 


Holy  Spirit  of  the  New  Testament  is  an  enlightening  and  quick- 
ening efficacy  proceeding  from  the  Glorified  Person  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  it  differs  from  the  Spirit  of  God,  or  Spirit 
of  holiness,  spoken  of  in  the  Old  Testament,  just  as  Jehovah 
clothed  with  Humanity  in  the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ  differs  from 
Jehovah  before  the  incarnation.  It  is  a  new  power  of  operating 
savingly  upon  the  souls  of  men  consequent  upon  this  glorious 
condescension  of  Deity,  in  investing  Himself  with  a  medium 
capable  of  conveying  his  influences  to  the  human  mind  in  a  form 
adapted  to  affect  it. 

The  same  is  meant  when  Jesus  Christ  says,  on  another  occa- 
sion, "  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away  :  for  if  I  go  not 
away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  go  away 
I  will  send  him  unto  you."  Here  "  If  I  go  not  away,  the  Com- 
forter will  not  come  unto  you,"  means,  that  if  Jesus  were  to  re- 
main in  an  unglorified  state  on  earth,  the  divine  operative  and 
enlightening  energy,  called  the  Comforter  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
could  not  be  imparted :  but  that  this  would  be  given  from  Jesus 
Christ,  in  his  state  of  glorification,  or  would  proceed  from  his 
Glorified  Person,  is  meant  by  his  saying,  "  If  I  go  away,  I  will 
send  him  unto  you." 

Jesus  in  like  manner  distinguishes  between  the  efficacy  of  his 
verbal  teaching  and  that  of  his  teaching  by  his  Spirit,  giving  the 
preference  to  the  latter,  by  saying,  "  These  things  have  I  said 
unto  you  being  yet  with  you :  but  the  Comforter,  which  is  the 
Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  Father  in  my  name  will  send  unto  you, 
he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remem- 
brance whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you."  Thus,  what  they 
learned  of  Jesus  by  verbal  instruction  they  were  apt  to  forget ; 
but  the  Spirit — to  be  given  after  Jesus  was  glorified, — was  to 
bring  all  to  their  remembrance,  enlightening  their  minds  at  the 
same  time  as  to  its  meaning. 

Plainly  indeed  then  is  it,  we  find,  declared,  that  an  extraor- 
dinary efficacy  of  enlightening  the  human  mind  and  affecting  the 
human  heart  should  be  poured  out  upon  mankind  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Lord's  taking  upon  him  Human  Nature,  when  the 
work  thus  commenced  was  completed,  and  the  Humanity  as- 
sumed was  exalted  to  perfect  union  or  Oneness  with  the  Divine 


SCRIPTURE -EVIDENCE  OF  THE  SAME  TRUTH.  176 


Essence  ;  and  it  is  as  plainly  declared  that  it  could  not  be  imparted 
before.  Did  the  event  correspond  with  the  promise  and  pre- 
diction? This  also  is  abundantly  evident.  When  Jesus  appeared 
to  his  disciples  after  his  resurrection,  as  related  in  Luke,  it  is  said, 
that "  then  opened  he  their  understandings,  that  they  should  un- 
derstand the  Scriptures  :"  which,  no  doubt,  refers  to  the  same 
divine  operation  on  their  minds  as  is  described  on  the  same  occa- 
sion by  figurative  language  in  John,  who  says,  "  Then  breathed 
he  on  his  disciples,  saying,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;  which 
act  of  breathing  is  an  evident  representative  symbol  of  the  com- 
municating to  them  of  an  enlightening  and  quickening  spirit. 

But  the  fullest  description  of  the  new  spirit  of  light  and  life 
which  was  imparted  to  those  who  were  willing  and  prepared  to 
receive  it,  in  consequence  of  the  Lord's  assuming  and  glorifying 
the  Human  Nature,  is  given  in  symbolic  language,  and  as  re- 
presented by  actual  symbols,  in  the  account  of  what  took  place 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  ten  days  after  the  Lord's  ascension,  in 
Acts  ii.  We  are  there  informed,  that  the  disciples  "  were  all 
with  one  accord  in  one  place.  And  suddenly  there  came  a  sound 
from  heaven,  as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind  ;  and  it  filled  the 
house  where  they  were  sitting.  And  there  appeared  unto  them 
cloven  tongues,  like  as  of  fire  :  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them.  And 
they  were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to  speak  with 
other  tongues,  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance." 

The  first  thing  remarkable  in  the  circumstances  mentioned,  is, 
the  very  appropriate  state  of  preparation  for  the  reception  of 
divine  influences  in  which  the  Apostles  were  when  they  received 
the  divine  vouchsafement.  "  They  were  all  with  one  accord  in 
one  place  !" — a  most  happy  emblem  of  the  unity,  resulting  from 
mutual  love  towards  each  other  grounded  in  the  supreme  love 
they  all  bore  to  their  risen  Lord,  and  in  that  readiness  with 
which  they  were  all  prepared  to  devote  themselves,  in  perfect 
self-annihilation,  to  the  performance  of  his  will,  in  converting  a 
world  to  his  service.  Then  "  suddenly  there  came  a  sound  from 
heaven  as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all  the  house 
where  they  were  sitting."  When  Ezekiel  saw  his  vision  of  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  he  also  states  it  to  have  been  attended  with 
the  noise  of  a  rushing  ;  this  sound  being  a  striking  representative 


176 


LECTURE  XI. 


of  the  descent,  with  power,  of  the  divine  influences.  The  wind, 
also  is  frequently  mentioned  to  denote  the  influences  of  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  as  when  the  Lord  says  in  John :  "  The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  nor  whither  it  goeth  :  so  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  Then  "  there  appeared  unto 
them  cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire,  and  one  sat  upon  each  of 
them :"  by  which  was  represented  the  power  of  teaching  the 
pure  doctrine  of  Divine  Truth,  or  of  the  Holy  Word,  with 
which  they  were  now  endowed.  The  tongues,  not  being  single, 
but  cloven,  indicated,  that  their  doctrine  was  not  the  doctrine  of 
truth  alone,  or  of  faith  alone,  as  too  many  would  have  us  be- 
lieve, but  the  doctrine  of  truth  in  conjunction  with  goodness,  or 
of  faith  with  charity  ;  and  by  their  appearing  to  be  of  fire,  is 
denoted,  both  that  the  doctrine  they  taught  was  grounded  in 
love,  and  also,  that  they  were  influenced  by  love  in  preaching  it. 
Fire  is  an  obvious  and  easily  recognized  symbol  of  love  and  zeal. 
Thus,  the  whole  implies,  that  they  were  both  taught  what  to 
preach,  and  filled  with  an  indefatigable  zeal  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,  which  regarded  no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  preaching  it. 
"  Then  were  they  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost:"  which  instructs 
us,  that  the  Lord's  Humanity  being  now  glorified,  or  perfectly 
assimilated  to,  and  united  with,  the  Divine  Essence,  such  a 
divine  influence  as  was  adapted  to  man's  state  of  perception  and 
reception  was  afforded.  This,  at  the  same  time  that  it  gave 
them  the  power  of  making  themselves  understood  by  persons  of 
different  languages,  and  thus,  literally,  of  speaking  with  new 
tongues,  gave  them  at  the  same  time  a  corresponding  spiritual 
capacity.  For  it  removed  the  ignorance,  and  misapprehension  of 
their  Divine  Master's  instructions,  which  so  constantly  attended 
them  while  He  was  on  earth  with  them,  when  He  taught  them 
only  by  his  words  and  not  by  his  Spirit :  whereas  they  were 
now,  themselves,  enabled  to  teach,  from  a  clear  apprehension 
of  the  sacred  truths  contained  in  them,  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel. 

It  must  now,  I  trust  I  may  be  permitted  to  conclude,  be 
admitted,  if  either  reason  or  Scripture  is  to  decide  the  question 


SCRIPTURE-EVIDENCE  OF  THE  SAME  TRUTH.  177 

that  the  taking  of  the  Manhood  into  God,  instead  of  limiting 
the  Divine  Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  its  more  ex- 
tended exercise.  We  have  seen,  in  our  last  Lecture,  that  there 
are  convincing  considerations  which  evince  this  doctrine  to  be 
reasonable  in  itself:  and  we  now  see  that  there  is  the  most  co- 
pious testimony  of  Scripture  establishing  it  as  a  fact.  As  is  so 
explicitly  asserted  by  the  evangelist  John,  after  having  affirmed 
that  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  "  The  law  was  given  by  Moses, 
but  grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ."  The  law  here,  as 
in  many  other  passages  of  the  New  Testament,  means  the 
Mosaic  dispensation  in  general,  in  which  pure  divine  things  were 
indeed  contained,  but  were  veiled  over  by  types  and  figures  ; 
and  the  efficacy  of  the  divine  illumination  given  under  which, 
was  not  sufficient  to  dissipate  the  obscurity  in  which  even  well 
disposed  minds  were  immersed, — as,  we  have  seen,  was  the  case 
with  the  Lord's  own  disciples,  even  when  they  had  the  benefit 
of  his  personal  teaching  :  but  the  grace  and  truth  which  came 
by  Jesus  Christ,  are  the  pure  good  and  love,  the  pure  truth  and 
intelligence  ;  the  power  of  perceiving,  of  being  affected  by,  and 
of  receiving  which,  was  imparted  by  the  superior  enlightening 
and  enlivening  beams  flowing  from  his  Glorified  Humanity. 
If  such  were  the  effects  of  the  assumption  of  Humanity,  can 
there  be  any  validity  in  the  objection,  which  doubts  whether  it 
was  the  One  Supreme  Jehovah  Himself  that  took  it  upon  Him  ? 
Could  such  quickening  and  enlightening  effects  on  the  human 
mind  have  been  the  result  of  the  assumption  of  Humanity  by 
any  Being  less  or  other  than  the  Supreme  Divinity  ?  Whence 
but  by  union  with  the  One  Source  of  Divine  Love,  Wisdom,  and 
Power,  could  the  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  have  derived  such 
power  as  was  manifested  after  his  glorification,  or  the  completion 
of  that  union, — even  so  as  to  possess,  according  to  his  own 
words,  "  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth?"  Let  us  not  then 
exclude  ourselves  from  the  capability  of  enjoying  such  blessings 
as  are  thus  opened  to  the  human  race,  by  not  acknowledg- 
ing the  true  character  of  Him  by  whom  they  are  dispensed 
unto  us.  Surely  there  is  evidence  enough  to  convince  the 
most  sceptical,  that  it  was  Jehovah  himself  who  assumed  Hu- 
12 


178  LECTURE  XI. 

manity  for  the  redemption  of  mankind :  that  by  so  doing  he 
invested  Himself  with  the  means  of  giving  more  extended 
exercise  to  the  operations  of  his  omnipotent  love  and  wis- 
dom for  man's  salvation;  and  that  in  that  Humanity  his  name 
is  Jesus  Christ;  who  thus  is  the  Only  God  of  heaven  and 
earth. 

"  To  Him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever !" 


LECTURE  XII. 

THE  TRUE  NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION,  AS  CONSISTING  IN  THE 
REMOVAL  FROM  MAN  THE  PREPOXDERATIXG  POWER  OF  HELL, 
AND  HIS   RESTORATION"  TO  SPIRITUAL  FREEDOM. 


Luke  i.  67 — 75. 

"  And  his  father  Zacharias  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  pro- 
phesied, saying,  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel ;  for  he  hath 
vitited  and  redeemed  his  people,  and  hath  raised  up  a  horn  of  sal- 
vation for  us  in  the  house  of  his  servant  David  ;  as  he  spake  by 
the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets  which  have  been  since  the  world  be- 
gan; that  we  should  be  saved  from  our  enemies,  and  from  the  hand 
of  all  that  hate  us ; — to  perform  the  mercy  promised  to  our  fathers, 
and  to  remember  his  holy  covenant,  the  oath  which  he  sware  to  our 
father  Abraham  ;  that  he  would  grant  unto  us,  that  we  being  de- 
livered out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies,  might  serve  him,  without 
fear,  in  holiness  and  righteousness,  all  the  days  of  our  life^ 

Proposing  now  to  pass  to  a  distinct  class  of  subjects,  I  will  again 
solicit  attention  to  a  few  prefatory  remarks. 

The  Lectures  which  have  hitherto  been  delivered  in  our 
Lord's  day  evening  services,  with  a  view  of  explaining,  upon  the 
most  important  subjects,  the  views  which  we  believe  to  be  those 
of  the  True  Christian  Religion,  have  nearly  all  been  directed  to 
the  purpose  of  establishing  the  very  first  truths  which  the 
Christian  Religion  teaches, — those  which  relate  to  the  nature 
and  person  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship.  According  to  the 
correctness  of  the  apprehensions  we  form  of  the  nature  and 
person  of  the  Divine  Being  we  adore,  will  be  the  correctness  of 
our  conceptions  in  regard  to  all  the  other  truths  of  religion  :  for 
these  all  look,  as  their  centre,  to  the  idea  of  God,  with  which 


180 


LECTURE  XII. 


they  are  connected ;  and  according  to  the  character  of  the  idea 
of  God  which  they  assume  as  their  centre,  will  be  the  character 
of  all  subordinate  doctrines.  The  views  that  we  have  offered 
upon  the  nature  and  person  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship,  are 
such,  it  is  acknowledged,  as  will  be  considered  new  by  the  gene- 
rality of  the  Christian  world  ;  consequently,  the  views  of  doctrine 
which  we  are  further  to  proceed  to  offer,  and  which  regard  those 
sentiments  respecting  the  divine  nature  and  person  as  their 
centre,  must  be  such  as  will,  at  least  in  great  part,  be  deemed 
new  also.  As  then  I  have  felt  it  necessary  to  request  your 
candid  and  unbiassed  attention  to  the  sentiments  which  I  have 
laid  before  you  in  the  preceding  Lectures, — and  to  assure  you, 
that,  when  compelled  to  speak  of  views  commonly  prevailing  as 
erroneous,  nothing  is  farther  from  our  intention  than  to  offer 
the  slightest  disrespect  to  any  individual  who  regards  those  views 
as  true ;  so  it  is  incumbent  on  me  to  repeat  the  same  assurance, 
and  to  request  the  same  indulgence,  now  that  I  am  about  to 
proceed  to  another  class  of  subjects.  I  shall  still  therefore 
assume,  that  your  coming  here  to  listen  to  the  doctrines  which 
it  is  my  happiness  to  have  received  and  my  privilege  to  advocate, 
is  alone  an  indication,  that  you  are  not  unwilling  to  hear  senti- 
ments differing  from  those  which  you  may  have  hitherto  been 
accustomed  to  regard  as  true,  and  that  your  minds  are  too  liberal 
to  admit  of  your  taking  offence,  should  I  even  be  led  to  speak 
strongly  of  the  inconsistency  of  the  commonly  prevailing  senti- 
ments. You  will,  I  am  sure,  believe  me  when  I  declare,  that  no 
personal  offence  is  intended, — that  we  wish,  because  we  are  so 
required  by  the  doctrines  we  have  embraced  as  the  truth,  to 
maintain  the  sincerest  feelings  of  goodwill  and  respect  towards 
the  person  of  every  human  being, — and  that  we  are  influenced  by 
no  personal  considerations  whatever,  but  solely  by  the  desire  of 
contributing  to  the  true  welfare,  the  real  benefit,  of  all  our 
fellow-creatures. 

The  class  of  doctrines  which  come  next  in  order  to  those  that 
relate  to  the  Nature  and  Person  of  the  Divine  Object  of  wor- 
ship, are  those  which  regard  his  wonderful  operations  for  the 
salvation  of  mankind :  and  these  are  the  doctrines  of  his  Re- 
demption, of  his  Sacrifice  of  Himself  for  the  accomplishment  of 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION. 


181 


this  object ;  of  our  Salvation  by  his  blood  ;  of  his  Mediation ; 
and  of  his  Atonement.  These  then  are  the  subjects  to  which 
we  now  propose  to  turn  our  attention. 

Upon  this  fresh  class  of  subjects,  I  beg  here  to  offer  this 
general  observation  :  They  all  are  doctrines  taught  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  It  is  most  certainly  true  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
has  wrought  in  our  behalf  the  work  of  Redemption ;  that  He 
effected  this  by  the  Sacrifice  of  Himself;  that  we  are  saved 
by  his  Blood  ;  that  He  is  our  Mediator  ;  and  that  He  has  accom- 
plished for  us  an  effectual  Atonement.  But  it  is  no  less  true, 
that  great  mistakes  are  made,  in  regard  to  all  these  subjects,  in 
the  doctrines  taught  at  the  present  day.  Having  proved  that  the 
Lord  our  God  has  but  one  person,  and  not  three,  and  that  his  per- 
son is  that  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  it  follows  that  no  doctrines 
can  be  true  which  suppose  the  existence  in  the  Godhead  of  more 
than  one  Divine  Person  ; — I  should  have  said,  did  I  not  know 
that  such  expressions  are  deemed  offensive  by  many, — which 
suppose  the  existence  of  more  than  one  God.  So  far  then  as  the 
commonly  received  doctrines  proceed  upon  the  supposition  of 
such  separate  plurality  in  Deity, — of  the  existence  of  distinct 
Divine  Persons,  "each  of  whom,  by  Himself,  is  God  and  Lord," 
— we  are  compelled,  by  the  conviction  that  God  is  but  One  and 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  He,  to  pronounce  them  erroneous. 
Bear  with  me,  my  brethren, — you,  I  mean,  who  may  have 
strongly  been  confirmed  in  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  generally 
taught, — till  I  have  laid  before  you  what  we  believe  to  be  the 
doctrines  of  the  True  Christian  Religion  upon  these  subjects. 
"The  doctrines  themselves  of  Redemption,  of  the  Sacrifice  of 
Jesus  Christ,  of  Salvation  by  his  blood,  of  his  Mediation  and 
Atonement,  I  repeat,  are  contained  in  the  Scriptures :  they 
therefore  are  certainly  true  ;  and  they  are  also  perfectly  agree- 
able, in  themselves,  to  the  conceptions  of  enlightened  reason : 
but  the  Scriptures,  I  hesitate  not  to  affirm  with  the  utmost 
confidence,  though  with  all  deference  to  the  judgment  of  others, 
afford  no  sanction  whatever  to  all  those  statements  of  them 
which  assume  for  their  basis  the  existence  of  more  Divine  Per- 
sons than  One  :  while  such  statements  of  them  are  in  the  highest 
•degree  repulsive  to  reason,  and  afford  the  most  plausible  pre- 


182  LECTURE  XII.  * 

tences  of  Infidelity.  As  now  commonly  presented,  they  were 
first  broached,  I  repeat,  by  those  who  are  reverenced,  among 
Protestants,  as  the  chief  Reformers  of  the  Christian  Church. 
There  are  traces  of  some  of  them  in  the  writings  of  Wick- 
liffe ;  but  they  were  chiefly  promoted  by  the  writings  of  Lu- 
ther and  Calvin,  and  their  immediate  disciples,  Melanchthon 
and  Beza.  And  the  immediate  reason  of  their  falling  into  such 
errors,  was,  because  when,  after  a  long  interval  of  neglect,  in 
which  all  traditionary  knowledge  of  such  subjects  was  lost  or 
perverted,  men  betook  themselves  to  the  study  of  such  ancient 
writings  as  are  those  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures, 
they  approached  them  with  few  of  the  necessary  helps,  and  with 
minds  full  of  modern  ideas. 

Enough,  I  hope,  may  now  have  been  offered,  to  form  my 
apology  for  laying  before  you  sentiments,  which  in  great  part  will 
be  deemed  new,  respecting  the  important  and  interesting  class 
of  subjects  upon  which  we  are  now  entering.  That^which  is  to 
occupy  our  attention  during  the  remainder  of  this  Lecture,  is, 
The  true  nature  of  Redemption,  as  consisting  in  the  removal  from 
Man  of  the  preponderating  power  of  Hell,  and  his  restoration  to 
spiritual  Freedom. 

I  believe  I  may  manage  to  handle  this  subject,  at  least  for  the 
present,  without  saying  much  upon  the  common  doctrines  re- 
specting it ;  for,  really,  I  have  been  surprised,  on  making  inves- 
tigation, to  find  how  little  of  a  clear  and  positive  nature  is  con- 
tained in  the  received  standards  of  doctrine  in  regard  to  this 
great  point  of  the  Christian  Religion.  On  looking  over  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  of  Religion  which  form  the  standard  of 
doctrine  in  the  Church  of  England,  I  was  quite  astonished  at 
discovering,  that  they  make  no  mention  whatever  of  Redemption 
from  one  end  to  the  other  !  The  only  passage  which  can  at  all 
be  thought  to  look  towards  this  subject,  is  in  the  second  Article, 
in  which  it  is  said,  "  That  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  truly  suffered, 
was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried,  to  reconcile  his  Father  to  us, 
and  to  be  a  sacrifice,  not  only  for  original  guilt,  but  also  for 
actual  sins  of  men :"  but  this  properly  relates  to  the  doctrines  of 
atonement  and  sacrifice,  and  not  to  the  doctrine  of  Redemption, 
accurately  so  called.    Indeed,  though  religious  persons  often 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION. 


183 


speak  of  the  Redeemer  and  his  Redemption,  I  believe  they  in 
general  have  few  specific  ideas  upon  this  express  subject,  but 
continually  confound  it  with  other  doctrines,  which,  though  allied 
to  it,  are  quite  distinct  from  it.  The  doctrines  with  which  it  is 
commonly  confounded, — those  of  sacrifice  and  atonement, — I 
propose  to  treat  of  in  distinct  Lectures ;  at  present  we  will  open 
the  subject  of  Redemption  properly  so  called,  as  forming  part 
of  the  doctrines  which  we  receive  as  those  of  the  True  Christian 
Religion. 

A  degree  of  confusion  respecting  the  nature  of  Redemption 
exists  in  the  minds  of  many  from  the  grammatical  signification 
of  the  English  word,  which  implies  a  purchasing  back,  by  the 
payment  of  a  price  :  and  the  same  grammatical  meaning  attaches 
to  the  terms  by  which  it  is  expressed  in  the  Greek  of  the 
New  Testament.  But  this  is  not  the  case  in  the  Hebrew  of  the 
Old  Testament,  where  the  words  to  redeem  and  redemption  are  of 
much  more  frequent  occurrence.  There  are  two  words  in  the 
Old  Testament  which  are  commonly,  translated  in  the  English 
Bible  by  the  word  redeem :  but  neither  of  them  includes,  in  its 
grammatical  signification,  the  idea  of  the  payment  of  a  price, 
though  both  are  sometimes  applied  to  subjects  in  which  the  re- 
demption or  deliverance  of  a  thing  or  person  was  to  be  effected 
by  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money.  Thus,  when  it  is  said  of  the 
Lord  under  the  type  of  Solomon,  in  Psalm  lxxii.,  that  "  he  shall 
redeem  the  soul  of  the  needy  from  deceit  and  violence,"  the  plain 
meaning  obviously  is,  that  he  would  deliver  from  deceit  and  vio- 
lence, and  no  idea  is  included  of  the  payment  of  any  price.  The 
case  is  the  same  when  it  is  said  in  the  cxxx.  Psalm,  where  the 
other  of  the  two  words  are  used  in  the  original,  that  the  Lord 
"  shall  redeem  Israel  from  all  his  iniquities :"  to  deliver  from 
iniquities  is  clearly  what  is  intended.  The  plain  meaning  then 
of  redemption,  as  spoken  of  in  the  Old  Testament,  always  is, 
deliverance :  and  it  will  be  in  vain  to  search  there  for  a  single 
passage,  in  which,  when  redemption  by  the  Lord  is  spoken  of, 
any  reference  is  made  to  the  payment  of  a  price. 

The  very  first  passage  where  redeeming  is  mentioned ,  is  in  the 
blessing  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  the  two  sons  of  Joseph,  by 
Jacob  ;  when  he  says  [Gen.xlviii.  16],  "  The  angel  which  redeem- 


184 


LECTURE  XII. 


ed  me  from  all  evil,  bless  the  lads :"  where  by  the  angel  which 
redeemed  him  from  all  evil,  he  can  mean  nothing  else  than  the 
angel  which  delivered  him  from  all  evil.  So  when  the  Lord  says 
to  Moses  [Ex.  vi.  6],  "  Wherefore,  say  unto  the  children  of  Is- 
rael, I  am  the  Lord :  and  I  will  bring  you  out  from  under  the 
burdens  of  the  Egpytians,  and  I  will'rid  you  out  of  their  bondage, 
and  I  will  redeem  you  with  a  stretched  out  arm  and  with  great 
judgments  ;" — and  when  David  says,  respecting  the  same  event, 
in  2  Sam.  vii.,  "  What  one  nation  in  the  earth  is  like  thy  people, 
even  like  Israel,  whom  God  went  to  redeem  for  a  people  to  him- 
self, and  to  make  him  a  name,  and  to  do  for  you  great  things  and 
terrible,  for  thy  land,  before  thy  people,  which  thou  redeemedst  to 
thee  from  Egypt,  from  the  nations  and  their  gods  :"  most  ob- 
viously, the  proper  force  and  meaning  of  the  word  to  redeem  in 
these  passages,  is,  to  deliver,  or  to  rescue.  Nothing,  certainly,  of 
the  nature  of  a  price  was  paid  to  Pharaoh,  to  the  nation  of  the 
Egyptians,  or  to  their  false  divinities,  to  obtain  of  them  the  free- 
dom of  the  children  of  Israel :  the  only  price  paid  for  them  was 
the  execution  of  judgments  upon  those  who  held  them  in  slavery, 
from  whom  they  were  redeemed  or  delivered  by  force.  Take  a 
Concordance,  and  refer  to  all  the  other  passages  in  which  the 
Lord  is  spoken  of  as  redeeming  his  people,  and  you  will  find  the 
meaning  to  be  the  same. 

Precisely  the  same  is  the  use  of  the  word  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  it  is  only  by  accident  that,  in  the  grammatical  forma- 
tion of  the  Greek  word  there  used,  as  in  the  corresponding  word 
in  English,  there  happens  to  be  involved  an  idea  of  regaining  by 
purchase.  The  word  therefore,  as  occurs  in  numerous  cases  in  all 
languages,  is  used  metaphorically,  and  the  simple  idea  intended 
by  it,  is  that  of  delivering  or  rescuing ;  as,  we  have  seen,  is  the 
case  with  the  corresponding  words  in  Hebrew,  in  their  gram- 
matical construction.  Thus,  when  Zacharias  in  our  text  says, 
"  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  for  he  hath  visited  and  re- 
deemed his  people  ;"  and  when  Anna  the  prophetess  [Luke  ii.  38] 
"  spake  of"  the  child  Jesus  "  to  all  them  that  looked  for  redemp- 
tion, in  Jerusalem  ;"  and  when  Jesus  Christ  says,  in  his  pro- 
phecy respecting  his  second  coming  [Luke  xxi.  28],  "  When  these 
things  begin  to  come  to  pass,  then  look  up,  and  lift  up  your  heads ; 


THE  TRUE   NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION 


185 


for  your  redemption  draweth  nigh  :" — every  one  must  see  that  the 
idea  intended  by  redemption  is  that  of  deliverance.  At  the  time 
of  the  Lord's  coming  in  the  flesh,  the  Jews  were  looking  for 
deliverance  from  the  power  of  the  Romans :  and  this  was  the 
only  redemption  that  was  thought  of  even  by  the  apostles,  till 
their  minds  were  enlightened  after  the  Lord's  resurrection. 
Thus,  when  he  was  crucified,  and  all  hopes  of  such  a  redemption 
had  vanished,  we  find  the  two  disciples  saying,  on  their  way  to 
Emmaus  [Luke  xxvi.  21],  "  But  we  trusted  that  it  had  been  he 
who  should  have  redeemed  Israel;" — evidently  meaning,  that 
should  have  delivered  Israel  from  the  Roman  bondage.  The 
redemption^  also,  which  the  Lord  speaks  of  as  to  be  experienced 
at  his  second  coming,  can,  obviously,  be  nothing  but  a  deliverance 
from  the  troubles  and  dangers  with  which  his  faithful  people 
would  be  encompassed  ;  for  none  imagine  that  he  will  then  per- 
form over  again  the  work  of  redemption  which  he  has  performed 
already,  by  again  living  on  earth  and  dying  on  the  cross. 

And  as  deliverance  is  the  sense  of  redemption  through  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  Gospels,  so  is  it  also  in  the  Epistles.  When 
Paul  says  in  his  Epistle  to  Titus  [ch.  ii.  14]  that  the  Lord  "  gave 
himself  for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  pu- 
rify unto  himself  a  peculiar  people  zealous  of  good  works  ;"  it  is 
plain  that  by  redeeming  us  from  all  iniquity  he  means  delivering  or 
rescuing  us  from  all  iniquity, — from  the  power  of  evil  or  of  hell. 

As  then  the  Scripture  idea  of  redemption  is  that  of  deliverance, 
the  next  thing  that  comes  to  be  considered  is,  from  what  we  were 
delivered.  We  would  answer, — Strictly  and  properly,  from  the 
preponderating  power  of  hell : — and  we  would  add,  That  therebv 
man  was  restored  to  a  state  of  spiritual  freedom,  so  as  to  be  ena- 
bled, by  accepting  the  gifts  offered  him  from  on  high,  to  perform 
the  work  of  repentance,  and  live  the  life  of  faith,  charity,  and 
obedience. 

Our  text  affords  proof  of  both  these  points.  Zacharias,  full  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  on  occasion  of  the  birth  of  John  the  Baptist, 
who  was  to  be  the  forerunner  of  the  Lord,  after  having  said, 
"  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  for  he  hath  visited  and 
redeemed  his  people ;"  adds  presently,  "  as  he  spake  by  the 
mouth  of  his  holy  prophets,  which  have  been  since  the  world 


186 


LECTURE  XII. 


began  ;  that  we  should  be  saved  from  our  enemies,  and  from  the 
hand  of  all  that  hate  us  :"  and  he  presently  adds  further,  "  that 
we,  being  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies,  might  serve 
him  without  fear,  in  holiness  and  righteousness,  all  the  days  of 
our  life."  Here  it  is  expressly  declared,  that  the  Lord's  redemp- 
tion consisted  in  delivering  us  from  our  enemies  :  and  that  the  ob- 
ject of  it  was,  that  we  might  serve  him  in  holiness  and  righteousness. 
There  cannot  be  a  more  explicit  statement  both  of  the  nature  of 
Redemption  and  of  its  design.  And  what  is  here  so  plainly  de- 
clared, is  a  concise  exhibition  of  the  genuine  and  important  doc- 
trine of  Redemption,  as  truly  presented  every  where  in  the  Holy 
Word. 

This  view  of  the  Scripture  idea  of  Redemption  will  appear  in 
stronger  light  still,  if  we  take  a  more  particular  inspection  of  our 
text,  and  examine  what  are  the  ideas  it  most  naturally  conveys. 

Let  a  person  read  this  prophetic  song  of  Zacharias,  describing 
the  benefits  to  be  experienced  by  the  advent  of  the  Lord  in  the 
flesh,  and  of  which  the  birth  of  his  son  John  the  Baptist  was  a 
testification  and  earnest;  and  he  will  be  inclined  to  believe,  if  he 
lay  out  of  sight  all  ideas  but  those  which  the  words  themselves, 
taken  in  their  natural  sense  suggest,  that  the  redemption  or  de- 
liverance which  is  spoken  of,  is  the  deliverance  of  the  Jews  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  Romans :  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
this  was  the  deliverance  which  Zacharias  himself  chiefly  thought 
of;  though  a  very  different  deliverance  was  in  the  mind  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  by  which  he  was  filled,  and  by  whose  inspiration  he 
spoke.  This,  it  is  certain,  was  the  kind  of  deliverance  which  alone 
all  the  Jews  were  looking  to  receive  from  their  promised  Mes- 
siah, and  the  expectation  of  which  was  at  .  this  time  general 
throughout  all  the  nation.  All  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment that  speak  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord  or  of  the  Messiah  de- 
scribe Him  as  another  David,  who  was  to  deliver  Israel  from  their 
oppressors,  and  to  re-establish,  with  greater  splendor  than  ever, 
their  kingdom  and  supremacy.  Observe  the  terms  of  the  famous 
prophecy  of  Isaiah,  referred  to  by  the  angel  Gabriel  when  he 
announced  the  approaching  incarnation  of  Jehovah  to  the  virgin 
Mary ;  which  says,  "  Unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto  us  a  son  is 
given  ;  and  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder  ;  and  his 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION. 


187 


name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God, 
the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  peace.  Of  the  increase  of 
his  government  and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end  ;  upon  the  throne 
of  David,  and  upon  his  kingdom,  to  order  it,  and  to  establish  it 
with  judgment  and  with  justice,  from  henceforth  even  for  ever." 
According  to  the  literal  sense  of  these  declarations,  the  Jews  ex- 
pected that  this  wonderful  Being  would  literally  restore  the 
throne  of  David,  and  reign  thereon  for  ever.  They  understood 
the  prophecies  in  a  merely  carnal  manner,  and  conceived  them 
to  speak  of  a  merely  temporal  Deliverer  ;  consequently,  as  they 
looked  for  a  merely  temporal  kingdom,  they  only  hoped  for  such 
a  redemption  or  deliverance  as  was  necessary  to  the  establish- 
ment of  such  a  kingdom  ;  and  that  was,  a  deliverance  from  their 
subjection  to  the  power  of  the  Romans,  under  whom  they  were 
at  that  time  living  in  bondage.  For  although  at  the  period  of 
the  Lord's  birth,  they  had  nominally  a  king  of  their  own — the 
monster  of  cruelty  denominated  Herod  the  Great, — yet  he  only 
reigned  by  sufferance  of,  and  as  tributary  to,  the  Roman  emperor 
Augustus :  and  before  the  time  of  the  Lord's  crucifixion,  even 
this  shadow  of  sovereignty  was  abolished,  and  the  government 
was  administered  by  the  Roman  Procurator,  Pontius  Pilatus. 
Indeed,  from  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of 
Judah,  and  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  that  king- 
dom had  never  been  restored.  The  Jews  had  been  permitted  to 
return  to  their  own  land  by  Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  after  he  had 
overthrown  the  Babylonian  empire,  and  his  successors  had  per- 
mitted the  rebuilding  of  the  city  and  temple  of  Jerusalem  ;  yet 
the  Jews  only  occupied  the  country  as  a  province  of  the  Persian 
empire.  Nor  did  the  overthrow  of  the  Persian  empire  by  the 
Greeks  mend  their  condition  ;  it  only  brought  them  a  change  of 
masters.  And  though  under  the  Maccabees,  they  resisted  with 
success  the  attempt  of  the  Greek  kings  of  Syria  to  abolish  their 
religion  :  and  some  of  their  princes,  afterwards,  amid  the 
troubles  of  the  times,  yielded  little  more  than  a  nominal  obedi- 
ence to  the  Syrian  sovereigns  ;  all  appearance  of  independence 
was  finally  crushed  by  the  iron  power  of  the  Romans.  It  is  not 
therefore  to  be  wondered  at,  if,  in  such  circumstances,  the  Jews 
pined  for  the  restoration  of  their  original  independence,  and  if, 


188 


LECTURE  XII. 


having  no  idea  of  the  spiritual  import  of  the  prophecies  of  their 
Scriptures,  they  understood  the  redemption  therein  repeatedly 
foretold  as  to  be  accomplished  at  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  to 
be  a  deliverance  from  the  tyranny  of  the  nations  by  whom  they 
had  so  long  been  oppressed.  Accordingly,  such  was  the  sort  of 
redemption  looked  for,  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's  first  advent,  by 
the  Jewish  nation  at  large  ;  and  not  only  Was  this  the  redemption 
expected  by  those  who  rejected  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  but  even 
by  those  who  received  Him.  During  the  whole  of  his  life 
in  the  world,  and  even  till  after  his  ascension,  the  disciples 
expected  Him  to  work  for  the  nation  a  temporal  redemption,  and 
to  set  up  a  temporal  kingdom.  As  already  noticed,  the  disciples 
going  to  Emmaus,  on  the  day  of  his  resurrection,  after  relating 
his  crucifixion,  add,  "  But  we  trusled  that  it  had  been  he  which 
should  have  redeemed  Israel," — the  possibility  of  which  redemp- 
tion, they  conceived,  was  destroyed  by  his  death.  And  when 
they  were  come  together  at  the  time  of  his  ascension,  they  asked 
him,  as  we  read  in  Acts  i.,  "  Lord  wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore 
again  the  kingdom  to  Israel?" 

Such  being  the  universal  expectation  of  the  Jews,  both  be- 
lievers and  unbelievers,  respecting  the  nature  of  the  redemption 
to  be  wrought,  according  to  ancient  prediction,  by  the  Messiah, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that,  when  Zacharias  in  our  text  says, 
"  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Isreal,  for  he  hath  visited  and  re- 
deemed his  people," — and  states  the  design  of  this  visitation  and 
redemption  to  be,  "that  we" — meaning,  literally,  the  nation  of  the 
Jews — "that  we  should  be  saved  from  our  enemies  and  from  the 
hand  of  all  that  hate  us  ;" — and  when  he  adds,  "that  we,  being 
delivered  out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies,  might  serve  him  with- 
out fear  ;" — there  can  be  little  doubt,  I  say,  that  Zacharias  un- 
derstood himself  to  be  speaking  of  the  redemption  or  deliverance 
of  the  nation  of  Israel  from  the  tyranny  of  the  gentiles.  Though 
the  Holy  Ghost,  which  dictated  the  words,  referred  to  a  redemp- 
tion of  a  very  different  and  spiritual  nature — a  redemption  not 
of  the  Jews  or  Israelites  solely,  but  of  the  human  race  at  large  ; 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Zacharias  himself,  when,  he  spoke 
of  being  "  saved  from  our  enemies,"  and  of  being  "  delivered 
•out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies,"  only  thought  of  a  rescue  or 


THE   TRUE   NATURE   OF  REDEMPTION. 


189 


deliverance  of  the  Israelitish  people  from  the  hostile  nations  by 
whom  they  were  held  in  servitude. 

These  facts  being  established,  what  is  the  inference  ?  The 
Jews,  we  see,  even  the  best  and  most  enlightened  of  them,  by 
the  redemption  which  they  expected  on  the  authority  of  their 
ancient  prophecies,  understood  no  other  redemption  than  a  deli- 
verance from  their  oppression  by  hostile  nations.  The  prophecies 
themselves,  also,  we  have  seen,  are  generally  so  worded,  that,  to 
one  who  looks  no  further  than  the  letter,  no  other  idea  than  that 
of  a  deliverance  from  hostile  nations  would  be  presented  to  his 
mind.  What  then  is  the  inference? — That  the  deliverance  of 
the  Jewish  people  from  their  enemies  is  what  is  truly  meant  by 
the  Scripture  prophecies  of  redemption  ?  Certainly  not.  Then 
were  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ  a  mere  fable,  and  not  He 
but  those  who  crucified  Him  were  the  just  interpreters  of  Divine 
prophecy.  But  the  correct  inference  is,  that  the  redemption 
truly  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ  was  a  work  of  such  a  nature, 
that  it  might  be  most  justly  described  under  the  figure  of  a 
deliverance  from  the  power  of  natural  enemies  or  of  hostile 
nations, — that  language  descriptive  of  such  a  natural  redemp- 
tion, would  be  most  suitable  for  expressing  such  a  spiritual  re- 
demption as  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ  really  was.  There 
must  be  an  exact  parallelism  or  correspondence  between  the 
two  kinds  of  deliverance,  so  that  the  terms  which,  in  their  natu- 
ral sense,  seem  to  speak  of  a  natural  redemption,  may  symboli- 
cally denote  a  spiritual  redemption  thus  graphically  delineated. 
If  the  language  of  Zacharias  in  our  text,  and  the  similar  lan- 
guage of  more  ancient  predictions,  has  any  reference  to  the 
redemption  of  Jesus  Christ  at  all,  that  redemption  must  be  of 
such  a  nature  as  might  justly  be  thus  represented. 

And  such  was  truly  the  fact.  It  is  a  certain  truth  that  man 
is  connected  as  to  his  spirit,  even  while  he  lives  in  the  world, 
both  with  heaven  and  with  hell,  both  with  angels  and  infernals, 
notwithstanding  he  has  no  distinct  perception  or  consciousness 
of  such  connexion.  So  far  as  good,  that  is,  love  and  charity, 
with  truth  and  faith,  prevail  in  his  mind,  he  is  in  communion  with 
heaven,  and  under  the  influence  of  its  angelic  inmates  :  but  so 
far  as  evil,  that  is,  the  love  of  self  and  of  the  world,  with  notions 


190 


LECTURE  XII. 


of  falsity,  prevail  in  him,  he  is  in  communion  with  hell,  and 
under  the  influence  of  its  diabolical  inhabitants.  The  object  of 
the  divine  providence  is,  that  man  should  be  kept  in  such  equi- 
librium between  the  two,  as  to  have  free  power,  while  he  lives 
here,  of  turning  to  whichsoever  he  pleases  :  but  if  by  any  means 
the  infernal  powers  are  brought  so  near  to  him  as  to  disturb  this 
equilibrium,  or  to  deprive  him  of  the  freedom  which  he  thence 
enjoys,  he  cannot  receive  the  gifts  of  heaven,  and  be  prepared  to 
become  one  of  its  inhabitants  :  and  if  they  come  nearer  still,  his 
spiritual  life  must  infallibly  be  destroyed.  Now  this  was  the 
state  in  which  man  stood  when  the  Lord  came  to  perform  the 
work  of  redemption.  By  his  fall  from  his  original  state  of 
integrity,  and  by  accumulations  of  evil  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration afterwards,  the  power  of  hell  had  acquired  an  awful  pre- 
ponderance ;  and  had  it  been  permitted  to  go  on,  the  whole 
human  race  must  have  perished  eternally.  Man  had  become 
the  victim  of  infernal  bondage,  and  his  chains  were  on  the  point 
of  being  rivetted  for  ever.  To  rescue,  redeem,  or  deliver  him 
from  this  fate,  the  Lord  came  in  his  nature.  He  assumed  Hu- 
manity to  admit  therein  the  infernal  powers  to  assault  even 
Himself;  and  by  overcoming  them  in  these  temptations,  by 
virtue  of  the  divine  power  inherent  within  Him,  He  removed 
them  from  their  too  great  nearness  to  the  human  race,  and  thus 
restored  man  to  equilibrium  and  freedom.  The  Humanity, 
therefore,  in  and  by  which  the  Lord  overcame  the  infernal 
powers,  is  what  Zacharias  speaks  of  in  our  text  as  the  "  horn  of 
salvation,"  "  raised  up  for  us  in  the  house  of  his  servant  David  ;" 
and  the  infernal  powers,  thus  restrained  from  coming  nearer  to 
man  than  was  compatible  with  his  being  able  to  resist  them, 
are  the  "  enemies"  from  which  he  came  to  save  us.  According 
to  the  expressive  language  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  thus  was  "  the 
Son  of  God" — or  the  Divine  Humanity — "  manifested,  that  he 
might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil."  The  works  of  the  devil 
are  the  incroachments  which  hell  had  made  on  human  freedom 
— the  preponderating  influence  which  it  exercised  over  the  minds 
of  men, — and  the  evil  which  thence  reigned  too  exclusively  in 
men's  hearts  and  actions  :  and  in  the  removal  of  this  thraldom 


THE  TRUE   NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION'. 


191 


— the  destruction  of  these  works  of  the  devil, — consisted  the 
redemption  of  Jesus  Christ. 

This  is  a  very  slight  sketch  of  this  grand  subject,  which  I 
propose  further  to  elucidate  in  another  Lecture.  I  will  only 
now  add,  that  the  effect  of  the  Lord's  redemption  is,  that  we 
are  again  placed  in  a  perfect  state  of  liberty  or  freedom;  or 
as  expressed  in  our  text,  "  that  we,  being  delivered  out  of  the 
hand  of  our  enemies,  may  serve  the  Lord  without  fear,  in  holi- 
ness and  righteousness,  all  the  days  of  our  life."  Nothing  can 
more  clearly  show  what  redemption  has  done  for  us.  "  It  has 
delivered  us  from  the  preponderating  power  of  hell,  so  that  we 
need  not  be  its  slaves  unless  we  freely  choose  such  bondage. 
Being  thus  rescued  from  infernal  domination,  we  may  serve  the 
Lord  without  fear  in  holiness  and  righteousness  all  the  days  of 
our  life.  We  are  as  much  at  liberty  to  do  this,  notwithstanding 
the  depravation  of  j  own  nature,  as  Adam  was  before  the  fall : 
for  if  our  nature  is  degenerated,  still  we  have  such  increased 
divine  aids  afforded  us,  as  to  preserve  our  freedom  unimpaired. 
We  are  free,  through  the  Lord's  redemption,  to  serve  Him  if  we 
choose :  and  we  are  perfectly  free,  through  the  same  cause,  to 
make  that  election.  The  Lord's  redemption  does  not,  alone, 
confer  salvation — that  is  quite  a  different  thing  : — but  it  places 
it  within  our  reach.  We  shall  attain  it,  if,  trusting  in  the  Lord, 
we  do  the  work  of  repentance,  and  live  the  life  of  faith,  love, 
and  obedience.  To  place  us  in  a  situation  in  which  we  may  do 
this,  is  the  object  of  the  Lord's  redeeming  acts.  If  we  neglect 
to  do  so,  we  have  none  but  ourselves  to  blame  for  our  destruction  ; 
the  power  of  doing  so,  originally  conferred  upon  us  by  creation, 
being  perfectly  restored  by  redemption.  Let  us  then  not  despise 
the  Lord's  grace,  and,  as  far  as  regards  ourselves,  make  vain  his 
great  work  in  redeeming  us.  Being  again  placed  in  a  free  state 
of  probation,  let  us  choose  good,  and  live.  Being  delivered  out 
of  the  hand  of  our  spiritual  enemies,  let  us  "serve  the  Lord," 
as  we  now  may  do,  "  without  fear,  in  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness all  the  davs  of  our  life." 


LECTURE  XIII. 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OP  REDEMPTION,  AS  CONSISTING  IN  THE 
REMOVAL  FROM  MAN  OF  THE  PREPONDERATING  POWER  OF 
HELL,  AND  HIS  RESTORATION  TO  SPIRITUAL  FREEDOM,  FUR- 
THER CONSIDERED  :  WITH  NOTICE  OF  THE  PRICE  PAID,  AND 
TO  WHOM. 


ISA.  LXIII.  1  6. 

"  Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom,  with  dyed  garments  from  Boz- 
rah  ?  this  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel,  travelling  in  the  great- 
ness of  His  strength  ?  I  that  speak  in  righteousness,  mighty  to 
save.  Wherefore  art  thou  red  in  thine  apparel,  and  thy  garments 
like  him  that  treadeth  the  wine-fat  ?  I  have  trodden  the  wine-press 
alone,  and  of  th$  people  there  was  none  ivith  me  :  for  I  will  tread 
them  in  mine  anger,  and  trample  them  in  my  fury,  and  their  blood 
shall  be  sprinkled  on  my  garments,  and  I  will  stain  all  my  raiment. 
For  the  day  of  vengeance  is  in  my  heart,  and  the  year  of  my  re- 
deemed is  come.  And  I  looked,  and  there  was  none  to  help  ;  and 
I  wondered  that  there  was  none  to  uphold :  therefore  mine  own  arm 
brought  salvation  unto  me,  and  my  fury,  it  upheld  me.  And  I  will 
tread  down  the  people  in  mine  anger,  and  make  them  drunk  in  my 
fury  ;  and  I  will  bring  down  their  strength  to  the  earth.'''' 

There  is  no  subject  which  ought  more  deeply  to  interest  a  per- 
son who  is  sensible  that  he  has  an  immortal  soul  within  him, 
than  the  obtaining  of  satisfaction  as  to  the  means  of  being 
eternally  happy.  It  is  generally  acknowledged,  that  after  sin 
had  once  entered  the  world,  eternal  death  must  have  been  the 
portion  of  the  whole  human  race,  had  not  Divine  Mercy  pro- 
vided that  a  Saviour  should  come,  capable  of  removing  the  im- 
pending destruction  ;  and  that  it  was  by  virtue  of  the  redemption 


THE   TRUE   NATURE   OF  REDEMPTION.' 


193 


thus  wrought,  that  those  of  the  fallen  human  race  who  should 
look  to  Him  as  being  able  to  deliver  them,  might  obtain  salva- 
tion. Knowledge  respecting  the  Saviour  was  therefore  commu- 
nicated as  soon  as  the  necessity  for  his  redemption  arose.  A 
promise  of  his^ coming  was  given  immediately  on  the  fall  of  man, 
when  Jehovah  declared,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should 
bruise  the  serpent's  head  :  and  that  the  expectation  of  this  great 
event  might  never  be  lost  sight  of,  additional  predictions  re- 
specting it  were  continually  given,  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
economy  of  the  Old  Testament  period. 

Seeing  then  the  Redemption  by  Jesus  Christ  is  a  thing  of  so 
much  moment  to  the  eternal  happiness  of  mankind,  it  becomes 
a  matter  of  great  importance  to  all  who  value  their  eternal  hap- 
piness to  be  rightly  informed  respecting  its  true  nature  ;  since, 
though  the  belief  of  it  in  any  way  is  calculated  to  add  greatly 
to  man's  tranquillity  and  hopes, — to  make  his  abode  here  less 
anxious  and  his  prospects  of  eternity  more  assured, — it  is  evident 
that  an  erroneous  conception  of  its  nature  may  tend  to  make  his 
hopes  from  it  delusive :  at  any  rate,  a  right  apprehension  of 
it  must  tend  to  make  his  security  more  firm.  The  Jews  all  con-, 
fidently  believed  that  the  Redeemer  was  to  come  about  the  time 
he  did  ;  yet  having  lost  all  the  true  knowledge  which  the  wiser 
ancients  possessed  respecting  the  nature  of  the  redemption  which 
he  was  to  accomplish,  they  experienced  no  direct  advantage  from 
its  accomplishment :  they  neither  recognised  the  Redeemer  nor 
accepted  his  Redemption.  As  noticed  in  our  last,  they  looked 
only  to  be  redeemed  or  rescued  from  the  Roman  yoke  : — re- 
demption from  the  power  of  hell  they  did  not  value.  Despising 
thus  the  spiritual  redemption  which  the  Lord  offered,  they  did 
not  attain  the  natural  one  which  they  so  passionately  desired ; 
on  the  contrary,  instead  of  being  enabled  to  throw  off  the  domi- 
nation of  the  Romans,  their  efforts  to  do  so  ended  in  their  ruin  : 
their  oily  and  temple  were  destroyed,  great  part  of  the  nation 
massacred,  and  the  remainder  scattered  over  the  face  of  the 
earth  as  a  warning  to  others,  as  we  behold  them  at  this  day. 

Now  if  the  consequence  to  the  Jews  of  having  lost  that 
knowledge  which  in  better  times  had  been  possessed,  of  the 
nature  of  Redemption,  was  so  fatal ;  may  it  not  be  concluded 
13 


194 


LECTURE  XIII. 


that  similar  mistakes  respecting  it  may  not  be  altogether  free  from 
danger  at  the  present  day  ?  Hence  how  great  the  solicitude  which 
should  pervade  the  breast  of  every  Christian  to  have  a  right  ap- 
prehension of  the  nature  of  this  foundation  of  the  Christian 
hope  !  The  Jews  erred  respecting  both  the  person  of  the  Re- 
deemer and  the  nature  of  his  Redemption :  What  if  Christians 
at  the  present  day,  forgetting  the  more  just  conceptions  of  these 
subjects  which  prevailed  in  the  earlier  ages  of  Christianity,  should 
again  err  in  both  these  important  points  ?  should  ascribe,  like 
the  Jews,  a  character  to  the  Redeemer  far  below  that  which  really 
belongs  to  him,  and  should  conceive,  like  them,  comparatively 
gross  and  unworthy  views  of  the  nature  of  his  Redemption  ? 

Now  lamentable  as  an  affirmative  answer  to  these  inquiries 
must  be,  it  is  a  subject  that  too  nearly  concerns  us  to  allow  us 
to  abide  wilfully  in  the  dark.  The  Redeemer  is  commonly 
believed  to  be,  as  it.  is  expressed,  the  second  person  of  the 
trinity,  quite  a  distinct  Being  from  the  Supreme  God  :  and  in 
fact,  though  acknowledged  in  words  to  be  of  equal  majesty, 
power  and  glory,  is  never  viewed  as  such  even  by  those  who 
make  this  acknowledgment :  whereas,  as  we  have  seen  in  our 
preceding  Lectures,  the  real  testimony  of  Scripture  on  the  subject 
is,  that  Jehovah  Himself  is  the  Redeemer  of  His  people  ;  and 
in  fact,  that  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  work  was  wrought,  was 
the  manifested  Person  of  the  One  God  Himself,  only  distinct 
from  the  Father  as  the  body  of  man  is  distinct  from  the  soul, 
which  in  union  form,  not  two  persons,  but  One-  And  with 
respect  to  Redemption,  equally  great  errors  exist,  as  with  respect 
to  the  Redeemer ;  it  not  consisting,  as  usually  represented,  in 
the  purchase  of  the  redeemed  from  the  vindictive  justice  (so 
termed)  of  the  Father,  by  the  payment  of  a  price  of  intolerable 
suffering  by  which  that  justice  was  satisfied,  but  in  their  rescue 
from  the  power  of  hell,  by  the  accomplishment,  of  such  divine 
works  as  restrained  the  fury  of  infernal  spirits,  and  secured  the 
redeemed  from  their  overwhelming  influence.  Redemption 
properly  consisted  in  delivering  man,  not  from  the  wrath  of 
God,  but  from  the  wrath  of  the  devil ;  who,  as  the  Apostle  says, 
goeth  about  like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour ; 
and  who  would  have  devoured  the  whole  human  race,  had  not 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION. 


195 


his  rage  been  restrained  by  the  Lord's  redeeming  acts.  In 
what  manner  this  is  to  be  understood  will  be  seen  in  the 
sequel. 

In  our  last  Lecture  we  showed,  that  when  Redemption  is 
mentioned  in  Scripture,  nothing  like  what  is  commonly  con- 
ceived by  it,  as  just  slightly  sketched,  is  intimated ;  or  can  at 
all  be  deduced  from  the  passages  where  the  word  occurs  ;  and 
upon  an  investigation  of  a  fair  sample  of  such  passages,  we  found 
that  the  sense  always  attached  to  the  term  is  simply  that  of 
deliverance ;  in  the  old  Testament  and  the  Gospels,  deliverance 
from  enemies  and  calamities,  by  which  is  spiritually  meant  de- 
liverance from  spiritual  enemies,  or  the  infernal  powers,  and  from 
the  miseries  they  induce  on  the  soul ;  and  in  the  Epistles,  de- 
liverance from  the  power  of  sin,  and  of  consequence  from  the 
power  of  those  spiritual  enemies  by  which  man  is  incited  to 
sin.  We  have  seen  also,  that  whenever  the  redemption  of  man 
by  God  is  spoken  of,  no  direct  allusion  is  made  to  the  payment 
of  a  price :  so  inconsistent  is  the  Scripture  notion  of  redemption 
with  that  generally  entertained,  the  very  essence  of  which  is 
made  to  consist,  as  every  one  knows,  though  not  directly  stated 
in  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  the  payment  of  a 
price,  by  the  Son  to  the  Father,  in  the  shape  of  the  satisfaction 
with  which  the  Father  is  supposed  to  have  regarded  the  Son's 
sufferings. 

Let  me  however  observe,  in  addition  to  what  was  then  advanced 
on  this  subject,  that  although,  in  some  passages,  mention  is  made 
of  the  payment  of  a  price  ;  this  is  seldom  at  all  connected  with 
the  mention  of  redemption  or  buying  again,  but  simply  of  buying : 
and  that  the  party  who  is  represented  as  receiving  the  price,  is 
not  the  Father,  as,  according  to  the  common  opinion,  it  ougfr  t 
to  be,  but  man  himself,  whilst  the  Father  together  with  th. 
Son  is  represented  as  the  party  paying  this  price.  Thus  what 
is  really  said  of  a  price  in  Scripture,  instead  of  militating  against 
what  we  have  said  on  that  subject,  tends  strongly  to  confirm  it ; 
as  I  will  now  briefly  show. 

The  only  two  passages  where  both  buying  and  price  are  ex- 
pressly mentioned,  are  in  chaps,  vi.  and  vii.  of  1  Corinthians. 
The  first  is  part  of  an  exhortation  to  purity  of  fife  ;  which  the 


196  LECTURE  XIII. 

Apostle  enforces  with  this  argument:  "For  ye  are  bought  with 
a  price  :  therefore  glorify  God  in  your  body,  and  in  your  spirit, 
which  are  God's."  Here  the  price  is  said  to  be  paid  by  God, 
which  word,  according  to  the  tripersonal  scheme,  is  always 
understood  to  mean  the  Father,  unless  the  Son  be  specifically 
mentioned  ;  and  the  allusion  is  to  the  practice  of  the  ancients 
respecting  servants,  who  were  seldom  hired  by  the  year  as  with 
us,  but  were  purchased  so  as  to  become  the  property  of  their 
masters,  either  for  a  certain  term  of  years,  or  for  life.  Now 
to  whom  was  the  price  of  a  servant  paid  ?  If  the  party  were 
previously  a  freeman,  the  price  of  his  servitude  was  paid  to 
himself:  if  he  were  before  a  servant,  the  price  was  paid  to  his 
former  master.  In  the  present  case,  the  parties  spoken  of  being 
the  members  of  the  church,  they  are  considered  as  freeman,  at 
their  own  disposal,  and  are  regarded  as  having  become  the 
Lord's  servants  by  the  acceptance  of  His  gifts.  They  might 
indeed  be  considered  as  having  been  previously  the  servants  of 
the  devil ;  but  as  his  was  a  usurped  authority,  it  would  be  mon- 
strous to  think  that  it  can  be  meant  that  a  price  was  paid  by 
God  to  the  devil  for  man's  deliverance.  His  deliverance  from 
the  power  of  hell,  we  have  seen  before,  was  represented  by  the  de- 
liverance of  the  children  of  Israel  from  Egypt,  from  whence  they 
are  said  to  have  been  redeemed,  not  by  the  payment  of  a  price 
to  their  cruel  tyrants,  who  had  no  right  to  their  servitude  but 
the  right  of  force,  but  "by  a  strong  hand  and  by  a  stretched 
out  arm  and  by  great  judgments."  Thus  Redemption  consists 
in  the  liberation  of  man  from  the  power  of  hell  and  placing 
him  in  a  state  of  freedom :  if  he  then  becomes  a  servant  of  the 
Lord,  it  is  by  the  reception  of  heavenly  graces  from  Him, 
whereby  he  is  bound  to  his  service;  being  ihus,  as  the  Apostle 
says,  bought  with  a  price.  Thus  then  it  is  plain  from  this  pas- 
sage, that  God,  the  Father  as  well  as  the  Son,  is  the  party  who 
pays  the  price — not  of  man's  Redemption,  since,  for  this,  nothing 
in  the  nature  of  a  price  is  represented  as  being  given — but  of 
man's  engngemcnt  in  the  service  of  God :  and  that  the  party 
receiving  the  price  is  not  the  Father,  but  man  himself. 

The  passage  in  the  7th  chapter  bears  the  same  allusion.  The 
Apostle  is  speaking  of  the  comparative  advantages,  for  a  Chris- 


THE   TRUE   NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION. 


197 


tian,  of  being  in  a  state  of  servitude  or  of  freedom ;  on  which 
occasion  he  says,  "  Art  thou  called  being  a  servant?  care  not  for 
it :  but  if  thou  mayst  be  made  free,  use  it  rather.  For  he  that 
is  called  in  the  Lord,  being  a  servant,  is  the  Lord's  freeman; 
likewise,  also,  he  that  is  called,  being  free,  is  Christ's  servant." 
Then  he  adds,  "  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price  :  be  not  ye  the  ser- 
vants of  men  ;"  where  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  is  precisely  the 
same  as  before. 

Now  if  it  be  inquired  in  what  consisted  the  price  by  which  we 
were  purchased  or  hired  into  the  service  of  the  Lord,  an  answer 
is  given  in  the  5th  of  the  Revelation,  where  we  read  that  the 
twenty-four  elders  sung  a  new  song  to  the  Lamb,  saying,  "  Thou 
art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof;  for 
thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood." 
Here  the  word  in  the  original  is  the  same  as  in  the  two  last 
examples,  and  does  not  mean  redeemed  or  ?-epurchased,  but 
simply  purchased  or  bought ;  and  here  also  it  is  evident,  though 
the  Lamb  or  Jesus  Christ  is  said  to  be  the  purchaser,  that  the 
price,  which  was  His  blood,  was  not  paid  to  the  Father,  for  it  is 
said  that  they  were  bought,  not  from  God,  but  to  ox  for  Him. 
As  to  the  party  which  received  the  price,  namely  the  blood,  it  is 
perfectly  plain  who  this  was  from  several  passages  in  the  Gos- 
pel. It  may  be  sufficient  to  mention  the  Lord's  words  at  the 
institution  of  the  Holy  Supper  ;  where  when  He  had  filled  the 
cup  with  wine,  to  represent  His  blood,  He  gave  it  to  the  dis- 
ciples, and  said  to  them,  "  Drink  ye  all  of  it :  this  is  my  blood, 
that  of  the  New  Testament,  shed  for  many."  It  is  evident  then 
that  His  blood,  the  price  by  which  man  is  purchased,  is  given  to 
man  himself;  and  that  by  drinking  that  blood,  or  receiving  the 
price,  he  is  purchased  or  hired  into  the  service  of  God. 

There  is  one  passage,  and  one  only,  in  which  we  are  spoken 
of,  as  redeemed  by  the  Lord's  blood,  which  is  in  1  Peter  i.  18, 
where  the  word  used  in  the  original  properly  means  to  redeem 
or  ransom:  but  here  also  we  are  not  said  to  be  redeemed 
thereby  from  the  wrath  of  the  Father,  but  from  our  "vain 
conversation. 

On  the  whole  then  it  is  plain,  that  when  either  our  redemption 
or  purchase  is  spoken  of  in  Scripture,  no  reference  is  made  to 


198 


LECTURE  XIII. 


a  price  paid  to  the  Father,  but  that  whenever  a  price  is  men- 
tioned or  alluded  to,  it  is  always  spoken  of  as  being  given  to  us, 
sometimes  by  the  Father  and  sometimes  by  the  Son ;  and  that 
we  are  always  described  as  being  redeemed  or  purchased,  not 
of  or  from  the  Father  as  a  God  of  vengeance,  but  to  or  for  him 
as  a  God  of  love. 

As  to  the  manner  in  which  the  blood  of  Jesus  operated  in  our 
Redemption,  and  more  especially  in  our  purchase,  after  we  were 
redeemed,  into  the  service  of  God,  this  we  shall  consider  in  a 
future  Lecture  on  that  express  subject :  Suffice  it  for  the  present 
to  say,  that  no  class  of  Christians  have  a  higher  reverence  for 
the  blood  of  Jesus,  or  are  more  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  its 
being  shed  to  procure  our  salvation,  than  we :  on  the  contrary, 
it  will  appear,  when  we  come  specifically  to  treat  of  it,  that  we 
exalt  its  virtues  and  efficacy  far  above  what  is  generally  con- 
ceived ;  whilst  we  assign  such  reasons  for  its  power,  as  are  not 
only  capable  of  satisfying  the  man  of  humble  piety,  but  the  man 
of  the  most  scrupulous  inquisitiveness,  would  he  but  seriously 
attend  to  the  subject.  Not  only  are  we  convinced  generally,  as 
Peter  affirms,  that  "  there  is  none  other  name  given  amongst 
men  whereby  we  must  be  saved"  than  that  of  Jesus,  but  also,  as 
Paul  declares,  that  "  without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  re- 
mission of  sins :"  and  this  ordinance  of  God  we  regard,  not  as 
is  generally  done,  as  a  mere  arbitrary  appointment,  of  which 
human  reason  cannot  see  the  fitness,  but  as  the  result  of  an 
eternal  law  of  Divine  Order,  as  beautiful,  as  intelligible,  and  as 
plainly  indispensable,  as  any  of  the  most  general  and  simple 
laws  of  nature. 

Now,  however,  as  promised  in  our  last,  we  are  to  return  to 
the  subject  immediately  before  us,  in  which  we  are  to  show,  that 
Redemption  properly  consisted  in  the  deliverance  of  man  from 
the  tyranny  and  dominion  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  or  of  hell. 
Thus  Redemption  is  a  distinct  thing  from  Salvation,  redemption 
being  a  work  which  was  wholly  performed  by  the  Lord  without 
any  co-operation  on  the  part  of  man,  whereas  no  man  is  saved 
except  with  his  own  consent.  Both  Redemption  and  Salvation 
are  performed  for  man  by  the  Lord  ;  but  with  the  distinction 
just  mentioned.    Thus  all  men  are  redeemed,  which  puts  them 


THE   TRUE   MATURE   OF  REDEMPTION. 


199 


in  such  a  state  that  if  they  are  not  saved  the  fault  is  their  own ; 
but  all  men  are  not  saved,  as  is  known  to  every  one. 

In  order  to  understand  how  Redemption  consisted  in  the  de- 
liverance of  man  from  the  power  of  hell,  it  is  necessary  to  be 
known  that  man,  as  to  his  spiritual  part,  is  continually  in  society 
with  spirits  and  angels  even  whilst  he  lives  in  the  world,  though 
he  can  have  no  perception  of  the  fact  whilst  his  spirit  is  enve- 
loped in  a  material  body.  It  is  evident  from  numerous  instances 
which  might  be  given  from  the  Word  of  God,  though  to  quote 
the  particulars  at  large  would  carry  us  too  far.  Suffice  it  to 
say,  that  a  great  number  of  cases  are  mentioned  in  Scripture,  in 
which  prophets  and  others  beheld  objects  in  the  spiritual  world, 
and  held  discourse  with  spirits  and  angels,  though  they  still 
remained  as  to  their  bodies  in  this  world  ;  a  thing  which  would 
be  utterly  impossible,  were  not  the  spirit  of  man  at  all  times  in 
close  connexion  with  the  spiritual  world,  and  capable  of  seeing 
the  objects  which  exist  there,  and  holding  preceptible  commu- 
nication with  the  inhabitants,  provided  the  spiritual  senses  be 
opened  for  the  purpose.  Take  for  instance  the  Revelation  of 
John.  It  is  true  that  the  particular  scenes,  spirits,  and  angels, 
which  were  then  brought  before  the  spiritual  sight  of  the  Apos- 
tle, were  arranged  by  the  Lord  for  the  purpose ;  yet  that  the 
whole  took  place  in  the  spiritual  world  and  not  in  the  natural, 
is  evident  from  every  page  of  the  book.  It  is  also  evident,  that 
all  that  was  necessary  to  give  the  Revelator  a  perception  of  the 
wonderful  things  which  he  saw,  was,  to  open  the  senses  of  his 
spirit,  laying  for  the  time  those  of  the  body  asleep  ;  as  is  clear 
from  his  declaring  on  the  occasion,  that  he  "  was  in  the  spirit ;" 
meaning,  that  the  seat  of  his  perceptions  and  sensations  was 
transferred  for  the  time  into  his  spiritual  part,  instead  of  being 
confined,  as  in  his  ordinary  state,  to  the  body. 

Now  if  such  be  the  case  with  man  as  to  his  spiritual  part — if 
this  is  at  all  times  in  communication  with  the  spiritual  world, 
and  exposed  to  the  influence  of  those  who  there  have  their 
abode,  it  is  evident  that  the  character  of  the  spirits  who  thus 
surround  him  must  be  a  thing  of  great  importance  to  his 
spiritual  welfare.  Suppose  then  in  consequence  of  the  degene- 
rate state  into  which  man  has  sunk,  and   of  the  number 


200 


LECTURE  XIII. 


being  so  great  of  those  who  pass  by  death  from  the  natural 
world  into  the  spiritual  in  a  wicked  state,  the  influence  of  evil 
in  that  world  should  preponderate  over  the  influence  of  good  : 
jt  is  evident,  further,  that  man  will  be  much  more  liable  to  receive 
the  former  kind  of  influences  from  that  world  than  the  latter, 
Now  who  can  say  that  this  was  not  gradually  becoming  the 
case,  from  the  time  of  the  first  fall  of  man  to  that  of  the  Lord's 
coming  in  the  flesh?  That  there  is  a  hell  and  that  there  is  a 
heaven,  the  former  for  the  reception  of  wicked  spirits,  and  the 
latter  for  the  reception  of  good,  is  very  certain  :  and  who  can 
say  that  all  wicked  spirits  are  so  confined  to  hell,  on  their  first 
leaving  the  world  of  nature,  as  to  be  kept  from  the  possibility  of 
exercising  a  usurped  influence  and  tyranny  over  the  spirits  of 
men  still  living  on  the  earth  ?  If  it  were  not  so,  what  occasion 
for  a  final  judgment,  which  many  passages  of  Scripture  lead  us 
to  expect  ?  If  there  were  no  evil  spirits  who,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  roam  at  large  till  the  time  of  this  judgment,  what  can  be 
meant  when  it  is  said  that  they  then  shall  go  into  eternal  fire 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels  ?  And  if  a  final  judgment 
is  still  expected,  when  these  wandering  spirits  shall  be  confined 
in  their  eternal  abodes,  who  can  say  that  a  similar  judgment, 
attended  in  the  same  manner  with  the  clearing  of  the  spiritual 
world  from  the  malignant  spirits  who  then  infested  it,  may  not 
have  been  performed  at  the  Lord's  first  advent?  The  Scripture 
assures  us  that  all  this  has  been  the  case.  We  will  mention  one 
or  two  passages,  out  of  many,  which  prove  it. 

We  have  already  seen,  that  Scripture  affords  ample  counte- 
nance to  the  idea,  that  man  is  at  all  times,  as  to  his  spirit,  in 
connexion  with  spiritual  associates  :  and  that  these  associates 
are  often  of  wicked  order,  and  hold  him  in  cruel  bondage,  is 
also  abundantly  testified.  Not  to  mention  again  the  declaration 
of  the  Apostle,  that  the  devil  is  like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour,  which  alone  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  infernal 
spirits  have  access  to  the  mind  or  spiritual  part  of  man,  it  is 
enough  to  allude  to  the  numerous  cases  of  the  demoniacs,  or 
persons  possessed  with  devils,  mentioned  in  the  gospel ;  which 
evince,  not  only  that  evil  spirits  have  access  to  the  mind  of  man, 
but  also  that  at  that  time  their  power  was  so  great,  as  to  influence 


THE   TRUE   NATURE   OF  REDEMPTION. 


201 


and  possess,  in  numerous  cases,  the  body  also.  It  is  true  that 
it  is  much  the  fashion  with  those  who  affect  superior  rationality 
at  the  present  day,  to  treat  the  cases  of  the  demoniacs,  not  as 
spiritual  possessions,  but  as  natural  diseases,  with  which  the 
agency  of  spirits  had  nothing  to  do :  but  they  were  certainly 
attended  with  plain  evidences  of  their  reality,  such  as  no  inge- 
nuity can  explain  away.  When  Jesus  was  not  recognised  by 
the  Jews  in  general  except  as  a  mere  man,  could  it  be  a  natural 
disease  which  cried  out,  as  the  spirits  are  said  to  have  done, 
"  We  know  thee  who  thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God  ?"  Could 
it  be  a  natural  disease  which  declared  itself  to  be  a  whole  legion 
of  devils,  and  begged,  if  the  Lord  persisted  in  ejecting  it,  to  be 
allowed  to  go  into  a  herd  of  swine?  And  could  a  natural 
disease,  or  anything  but  a  multitude  of  evil  spirits,  and  not 
one  only,  transfuse  itself  into  the  whole  herd,  so  that  they  all 
should  plunge  themselves  into  the  sea?  In  short,  if  Scripture 
is  worthy  of  credit,  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that 
spirits  have  access  to  the  spiritual  part  of  man,  and  that,  at  the 
time  of  the  Lord's  advent,  they  exercised  such  an  influence 
over  him,  as  threatened  to  destroy,  not  his  soul  only,  but  his 
body  also. 

This  preponderance  then  of  infernal  power,  we  have  express 
testimony,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  removed  by  coming  into  the 
world.  In  John  xii.  we  find  the  Lord  saying,  "  Now  is  the 
judgment  of  this  world  ;  now  shall  the  prince  of  this  world  be 
cast  out:"  In  chap.  xvi.  He  says,  "  The  prince  of  this  world  is 
judged:"  and  in  Luke  x.  He  declares,  "I  beheld  Satan  as 
lightning  fall  from  heaven."  Now  the  prince  of  this  world  has 
always  been  allowed  to  be  a  name  of  the  Devil ;  and  whether  we 
suppose  the  devil  to  be  one  great  infernal  being  or  a  name  for 
the  whole  of  the  infernal  hosts  taken  collectively,  it  amounts  to 
the  same  thing  as  to  our  present  inquiry.  And  we  here  have 
Jesus  Christ  expressly  declaring,  that  this  Infernal  Power  was 
then  by  him  judged  and  cast  out.  The  judgment  on  the  infer- 
nal powers  consisted  in  their  removal  from  the  station  in  which 
they  could  have  an  immediate  communication  with  the  spirits,  of 
men,  to  a  state  of  confinement,  and  less  direct  communication, 


202 


LECTURE  XIII. 


in  the  infernal  regions.  The  devil  is  called  the  prince  of  this 
world  on  account  of  the  influence  which  evil  spirits  then  exer- 
cised among  mankind.  The  falling  of  Satan  from  heaven,  stated 
to  have  taken  place  at  the  same  time,  signifies  much  the  same 
thing.  It  is  evident,  whether  he  originally  fell  out  of  heaven 
or  not,  that  he  could  not  have  got  in  thither  again,  so  as  to 
make  it  necessary  that  he  should  be  cast  out  again  when  the 
Lord  was  in  the  world  ;  wherefore  heaven  does  not  here  mean 
heaven  itself,  but  an  upper  region  of  the  spiritual  world,  which 
to  infernals  would  appear  a  heaven  compared  with  their  own 
proper  abodes  in  hell.  Indeed,  whatever  is  above  the  world  of 
nature  may,  in  a  general  way  of  speaking,  be  called  heaven. 

Now  if  hell,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  had  raised 
up  itself  as  it  were  to  such  a  height,  and  exercised  such  an 
influence  as  we  see  it  did  over  mankind  ;  it  is  evident  that,  unless 
it  had  been  removed  from  man  the  whole  race  must  speedily 
have  sunk  under  its  power,  and  all  have  perished  in  death  eter- 
nal. A  deliverance  from  such  a  catastrophe  was  a  deliverance 
indeed.  Of  this  spiritual  deliverance,  the  deliverances  of  the  Is- 
raelites from  Egypt  and  Babylon  were  types :  wherefore,  as  was 
shown  in  our  last,  these  are  always  spoken  of  in  the  Word  of  God 
as  redemptions  by  Jehovah.  The  reason  why  Jehovah  assumed 
human  nature  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  work  was,  because 
as  we  have  seen  in  former  Lectures,  the  influence  proceeding  from 
the  Divine  Essence,  as  it  existed  before  the  incarnation,  was  not 
adapted  to  affect  man  in  a  natural  state  ;  of  course,  it  was  not 
adapted  to  act  upon  infernal  spirits,  whose  nature  is  far  too 
gross  to  be  sensible  of  the  refined  divine  sphere  proceeding  from 
the  inmost  of  Deity.  As  then  Jehovah  assumed  Humanity  to 
invest  his  divine  influences  with  a  power  of  reaching  to  the 
extremes  of  nature,  and  thus  of  imparting  such  aids  to  man  as 
his  degenerate  state  required,  so  did  the  same  means  afford 
opportunity  of  bringing  the  sphere  of  his  Divine  Truth  to  bear, 
as  it  were,  on  the  powers  of  darkness  ;  the  presence  of  which 
they  were  unable  to  endure,  but  were  forced  by  it  to  flee  for 
shelter  to  their  own  dark  abodes.  This  was  effected  by  succes- 
sive steps  as  the  glorification  of  the  Lord's  human  nature  pro- 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OF  REDEMPTION. 


203 


ceeded,  and  was  completed  at  the  passion  of  the  cross,  which  was 
the  last  contest  by  which  He  subjugated  the  infernal  powers  and 
completed  the  glorification  of  his  Human  Nature. 

These  operations  are  described  in  many  parts  of  the  prophe- 
cies of  the  Old  Testament  under  the  figure  of  Jehovah's  com- 
bats with  enemies  ;  of  which  that  selected  for  our  text  is  one. 
He  that  cometh  from  Edom,  is  evidently  the  Lord  in  his  Hu- 
manity ;  and  he  is  said  to  come  from  Edom,  not  with  any 
reference  to  Edom  as  a  place,  but  because  by  Esau,  and  thence 
by  Edom  his  country,  was  represented  the  natural  or  external 
man  ;  and  it  was  only  by  his  natural  or  external  man  that  the 
Lord  could  come  into  conflict  with  infernal  beings.  His  apparel 
or  garments  represent  the  divine  truth  of  his  Word  ;  and  these 
are  said  to  be  dyed,  as  with  the  lees  of  wine  or  with  blood,  in  re- 
ference, literally,  to  the  passion  of  the  cross,  and  spiritually,  to  the 
gross  violence  offered  to  the  true  meaning  of  the  Sacred  Word 
as  interpreted  among  the  Jews,  the  professing  church  of  that 
day.  His  treading  the  wine-press  refers  to  the  conflicts  he  en- 
dured with  the  infernal  powers  :  and  he  is  said  to  trample  them 
in  anger  and  fury,  not  that  there  really  was  anger  in  Him,  but 
in  reference  to  the  ardent  zeal  with  which  He  combated  for 
the  salvation  of  mankind,  which  appears  like  anger  and  fury  to 
those  who  resist  it,  whereas  these  passions  only  really  exist  in 
their  own  breasts.  All  the  other  particulars  bear  a  similar  re- 
ference to  His  work  of  redemption,  as  consisting  in  the  subju- 
gation of  the  infernal  powers.  Thus,  when  it  is  added  that  "  He 
looked,  and  there  was  none  to  help,  and  wondered  that  there 
was  none  to  uphold,"  it  expresses  the  utter  falling  away  of  the 
church,  which  at  that  time  was  with  the  Israelitish  nation.  So 
long  as  there  is  any  genuine  truth  and  goodness  remaining  in  the 
church,  there  is  power  in  it  to  resist  the  infernal  influence ;  but 
when  the  church  is  altogether  corrupted,  nothing  but  an  extra- 
ordinary exertion  of  power  by  the  Lord  alone  can  "  uphold" 
creation,  and  prevent  the  whole  race  of  mankind  from  sinking 
in  death  eternal.  Such  an  exertion  of  divine  power  is  signi- 
fied by  its  being  said,  "  therefore  mine  own  arm  brought  salva- 
tion unto  me."  The  arm,  like  the  hand,  is  often  mentioned  in 
Scripture  to  denote  power,  of  which  it  is  so  proper  an  emblem  ; 


204 


LECTURE  XIII. 


and  as  the  power  which  the  Lord  exercises  to  subdue  the  rage 
of  hell  is  exerted  by  his  Humanity,  which,  as  just  noticed,  He 
assumed  for  this  purpose,  therefore  the  Divine  Humanity  of  the 
Lord  is  specifically  meant  by  his  arm  in  this  passage.  Mention 
is  frequently  made  in  the  prophets  of  the  arm  of  Jehovah,  and 
by  it  is  always  meant,  specifically,  the  organ  of  the  Divine 
Omnipotence,  the  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ.  By  this  alone 
can  the  divine  influences  reach,  so  as  to  affect,  those  who  are 
immersed  in  evil :  by  this  alone  can  the  hosts  of  hell  be  made  to 
feel  the  divine  power  of  Jehovah. 

Our  text,  then,  is  one  of  the  passages  of  the  Holy  Word 
which  prove  that  Redemption  consisted  in  man's  deliverance 
from  the  preponderating  influence  of  hell,  by  the  Lord's  vic- 
tories over,  and  subjugation  of,  the  powers  of  darkness.  It 
would  be  easy  to  collect,  from  the  same  source,  abundant  more 
evidence  of  the  same  great  truth.  That  all  hell  fought  against, 
and  endeavored  to  overcome,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  while  on 
earth,  is  evident,  not  only  from  the  detailed  account  of  his 
temptations  in  the  wilderness,  but  from  his  agonies  in  the  gar- 
den, and  from  his  saying  to  those  who  came  to  apprehend  Him, 
"Now  is  your  hour,  and  the  power  of  darkness."  That  man's 
redemption  was  to  be  accomplished  through  the  subjugation,  by 
the  Lord  in  the  Humanity,  of  the  powers  of  hell,  was  predicted 
from  the  moment  that  redemption  became  necessary,  in  the 
curse  pronounced  upon  the  serpent  or  the  power  of  evil ;  when 
God  said,  "  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and 
between  thy  seed  and  her  seed :  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and 
thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  That  the  Lord  when  in  the  world 
did  actually  accomplish  the  work  of  Redemption  in  this  manner, 
— that  is,  by  overcoming  the  powers  of  darkness  and  rescuing 
man  from  their  grasp, — is  plainly  taught  by  the  Lord's  words 
in  Luke  [xi.  21,  22]  :  "  When  a  strong  man  armed  keepeth 
his  palace,  his  goods  are  in  peace :  but  when  a  stronger  than 
he  shall  come  upon  him  and  overcome  him,  he  taketh  away 
his  armour  wherein  he  trusted,  and  divideth  his  spoils :"  The 
strong  man  armed  is  the  power  of  hell:  the  stronger  than  he 
is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  Jehovah  in  his  Humanity  ;  and 
his  spoils  are  the  human  race  thus  redeemed  or  delivered.  The 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OP  REDEMPTION. 


205 


same  style  of  language  is  employed  by  the  Psalmist,  when, 
speaking  (in  the  supreme  sense)  of  the  return  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  with  his  Humanity,  into  his  divine  glory,  after  having 
effected  the  work  of  Redemption  by  the  subjugation  of  hell,  he 
uses  the  brief  but  expressive  phrase  [Ps.  lxviii.  IS],  "  Thou  hast 
led  captivity  captive." 

That  such  was  the  nature  of  the  Lord's  works  of  Redemption, 
is  equally  taught  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  when  he  says,  speaking 
of  Him  [Col.  ii.  15],  that  "having  spoiled  principalities  and 
powers,  he  made  a  shew  of  them  openly,  triumphing  over  them 
in  it."  It  is  acknowledged  that  by  principalities  and  powers  he 
means  the  powers  of  darkness  or  the  spirits  of  Satan  ;  who  are 
thus  declared  to  have  been  vanquished  by  the  Lord,  and  their 
prey  liberated,  in  the  sight  of  the  angelic  witnesses  of  the 
conflict.  The  same  is  taught  by  the  same  Apostle  when  he  says 
to  the  Hebrews  [chap.  ii.  14,  15],  that  Jesus  took  part  of  flesh 
and  blood,  "  that  through  death  he  might  destroy  him  that  hath 
the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil ;  and  deliver  them  who, 
through  fear  of  death,  were  all  their  life-time  subject  to  bond- 
age." The  devil,  certainly,  whether  considered  as  one  infernal 
being  or  a  multitude,  denotes  the  infernal  power  in  general ;  and 
the  deliverance  of  mankind  from  bondage  to  that  power,  through 
the  Lord's  assuming  Humanity  and  glorifying  it,  which  was 
completed  by  his  death  on  the  cross,  is  here,  plainly,  only  an- 
other term  for  their  Redemption. 

I  trust  then  that  enough  has  now  been  adduced  to  prove,  that 
the  Redemption  of  man,  according  to  the  Scripture  idea  of  it, 
consisted  in  the  removal  and  subjugation  of  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness, and  the  rescuing  of  their  captive  and  spoil  from  their  grasp, 
by  the  redeeming  acts  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  this  work 
would  still  have  been  incomplete  had  it  ended  here.  Though 
mankind  at  that  period  would  have  been  benefited,  no  provision 
would  have  been  made  for  future  generations.  It  was  not  only 
necessary  to  subdue  the  infernal  hosts  once,  but  that  means 
should  be  provided  against  their  again  resuming  their  lost  do- 
minion ;  and  this  required,  that  Jehovah  should  not  merely 
appear  amongst  men  in  human  nature,  but  that  he  should  unite 
the  Humanity  with  his  Divine  Essence  for  ever.    Thus  only 


206 


LECTURE  XIII. 


could  the  means  of  salvation  be  for  ever  supplied  to  mankind. 
This  union,  therefore,  the  Divine  Saviour  effected  at  the  same 
time  ;  whence  He  rose  again  in  his  Glorified  Human  Form,  and 
ascended  into  heaven,  and  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  God  ; 
by  which  Scripture  figures  is  described  the  exaltation  of  his 
Human  Nature  above  every  degree  of  created  existence,  even  to 
perfect  oneness  with  the  Essential  Diving,  so  as  to  be  the  sole 
organ  by  which,  thenceforth,  the  Divine  Omnipotence  should  be 
exercised,  and  by  which  hell  should  be  restrained  in  everlasting 
subjection.  Thus  are  the  means  afforded  to  every  one  by  which 
he  may  secure  his  eternal  salvation.  Be  it  then  our  care  dili- 
gently to  avail  ourselves  of  the  Redemption  thus  wrought  for 
us,  by  availing  ourselves  of  the  power,  communicated  from  this 
origin,  of  keeping  'the  commandments  of  our  God.  It  is  thus 
only  that  a  state  and  disposition  of  mind  can  be  attained  capable 
of  dwelling  in  the  angelic  regions  ;  where  we  shall  enjoy  the 
bliss  with  which  an  eternal  abode  in  those  regions  must  be  at- 
tended ;  and  where  we  shall  glorify  our  God  for  the  Redemption 
He  has  wrought,  and  for  the  salvation  He  hath  procured  for  us, 
for  ever  and  ever. 


LECTURE  XIV. 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  ;  IN  WHAT  IT  CONSISTED  J  AND 
HOW  IT  IS  COMPATIBLE  WITH  HIS  ONENESS  WITH  THE  GOD- 
HEAD, AND  WITH  THE  ATTRIBUTES  OF  INFINITE  LOVE  AND 
WISDOM  AS  FORMING  THE  ESSENTIAL  NATURE  OF  THE  DIVINE 
OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP. 


John  xv.  15  (latter  clause). 
"  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep.'''' 

I  take  it  for  granted,  in  regard  to  the  Lectures  which  I  have 
undertaken  to  deliver  in  this  place  on  Lord's  day  evenings,  and 
in  which- 1  profess  to  offer  a  view  of  Christian  Doctrine,  which 
steers  clear  of  the  inconsistencies  inherent  in  the  tripersonal 
scheme,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  negations  of  Scripture 
involved  in  the  Unitarian  system  on  the  other, — a  view  which, 
in  our  opinion,  makes  Revelation  harmonize  with  the  purest  views 
of  Reason,  and  leads  genuine  Reason  to  adore  the  glories  of 
Revelation  :  I  take  it  for  granted,  I  say,  that  those  of  the  public 
at  large  who  are  willing  to  attend  to  Lectures  delivered  under 
these  professions,  will  in  general  be  persons  of  liberal  and  candid 
minds, — such  as  do  not  feel  too  entirely  confident  that  all  of 
divine  truth  which  ever  can  be  known  is  contained  in  the  doc- 
trines commonly  maintained  as  those  of  Christianity  ;  and  that, 
while  all  subjects  of  human  knowledge  are  continually  receiving 
great  improvements,  theology  is  ever  to  remain  exactly  where  it 
was  placed  by  Luther  and  Calvin.  Taking  it  for  granted  that  I 
have  persons  of  such  liberal  minds  before  me, — persons  who  will 
not  take  offence  at  hearing  sentiments  of  religious  doctrine 
differing  from  what  they  have  been  accustomed  to, — I  have 
offered  views,  respecting  the  Essential  Nature  of  Deity,  the 
Divine  Unity  and  Trinity,  the  Glorification,  or  Deification,  if 


208 


LECTURE  XIV. 


you  will,  of  the  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  as  to  become  the 
organ  of  the  exercise  of  the  Divine  Omnipotence  ;  and  lastly, 
respecting  the  nature  of  the  Lord's  work  of  redemption  ;  which, 
as  differing  greatly  from  the  doctrines  generally  entertained, 
required,  I  was  well  aware,  candid  minds  to  give  them  due  con- 
sideration. Yet,  as  I  have  repeatedly  observed,  while  we  regard 
the  doctrines  commonly  prevailing  on  these  points  as  disfigured 
by  great  errors,  we  do  not  the  less  regard  with  esteem,  and  wish 
to  love  as  brethren,  those  who  cherish  those  doctrines.  We  are 
quite  certain,  that  many  who  are  now  zealous  for  sentiments 
which  we  believe  to  be  erroneous,  are  sincere  lovers  of  their  God 
and  Saviour,  and  will  be  ready  to  accept  more  accurate  views 
when  brought  fairly  before  them  ;  yea,  that  many  who  are  now 
zealous  against  the  doctrines  which  we  recommend  to  their  at- 
tention, will  eventually  come  over  to  our  side  ;  and,  in  this 
instance,  we  argue  to  the  future  from  our  experience  of  the 
past. 

But  if  I  have  felt  it  necessary  to  appeal  to  the  candour  of  my 
hearers  in  regard  to  the  subjects  of  our  former  Lectures,  still 
more  is  it  necessary  in  regard  to  those  which  are  now  in  the 
course  of  delivery.  Many  Christians  are  ready  to  think  favour- 
ably of  a  view  of  Divine  Truth  which  makes  the  doctrine  of  the 
Divine  Trinity  perfectly  consonant  with  that  of  the  Divine 
Unity,  and  reconciles  the  whole  of  this  important  subject  with 
the  perceptions  of  enlightened  reason.  But  many  of  these,  when 
they  see  the  consequences, — that  some  of  the  most  favourite 
doctrines  of  the  present  day,  as  commonly  understood  and  ex- 
plained, must  fall  to  the  ground,  if  the  real  Unity  of  the  Deity, 
and  his  unmixed  benevolence,  be  established, — become  alarmed. 
Not  able  to  part  with  sentiments  which  they  have  confirmed  as 
necessary  to  their  salvation, — not  daring  even  to  look  fairly  at 
any  exposition  of  such  subjects  which  is  opposed  to  their  previous 
belief, — they  run  back  into  their  former  darkness, — take  shelter 
again  in  the  plea  of  mystery  and  incomprehensibility  ;  and, 
since  other  doctrines,  to  which  they  are  more  attached,  cannot 
be  maintained  without  it,  they  again  set  up  in  his  place  the 
Dagon  which  had  fallen  on  the  threshold  at  the  presence  of  the 
ark  of  the  Lord, — the  persuasion  that  the  Godhead  is  divided 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  209 

between  three  absolutely  separate  persons, — so  separate,  as  to 
possess  not  only  distinct  but  absolutely  opposite  natures  and 
attributes, — the  Father  being  a  God  of  anger,  the  Son  a  God  of 
love,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  a  God  who  has  no  distinctive  attribute 
of  his  own,  but  is  the  passive  instrument  for  executing  the  de- 
cisions agreed  upon  by  the  other  two.  Bear  with  me,  I  beseech 
you,  my  friends  and  brethren.  I  have  no  intention  to  treat  any 
of  your  sentiments  with  disrespect.  Nor  will  you  have  any 
reason  to  be  dissatisfied  if  you  will  suspend  }'our  judgment  till 
the  end  of  these  Lectures.  As  I  stated  in  our  last  Lecture  but 
one,  the  doctrines  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  Salvation  by 
his  blood,  of  his  Mediation  and  Atonement,  which  are  the  sub- 
jects we  now  are  to  proceed  to  consider,  are  really  taught  in  the 
Scriptures.  But,  like  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity  itself,  they 
have  been  greatly  corrupted  in  the  latter  ages  of  Christianity. 
No  trace  of  them,  as  now  taught,  is  to  be  found  in  any  Christian 
writer  till  after  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  when  the  great 
corruption  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  first  established: 
and,  as  taught  at  the  present  day,  they  were  not  known  in  the 
Church  till  the  era  of  the  Reformation.  Fancy  not  then,  that, 
in  contending  for  them,  you  are  contending  for  the  faith  once 
(or  originally)  delivered  to  the  saints.  As  now  maintained,  also, 
they  form,  still  more  than  the  doctrine  of  the  Tripersonality 
itself,  which  they  aggravate  into  open  Tritheism,  the  strongest 
citadel  in  which  Infidelity  intrenches  itself.  Listen  then,  with 
candour,  I  beseech  you,  as  you  regard  your  best  interests,  to  a 
view  of  these  subjects,  which  divests  them  of  all  that  makes  them 
offensive  to  reason,  and  inconsistent  with  a  just  exposition  of  the 
Word  of  God. 

I  must  assume  as  granted,  and  as  sufficiently  proved  in  my 
former  Lectures,  that  the  Essential  Nature  of  Deity  is  Infinite 
Love  and  Infinite  Wisdom,  including  no  attributes  that  are  in- 
consistent with  these  :  and  that  God  is  Absolutely  One,  both 
in  Essence  and  Person, — Jesus  Christ  being  the  manifested 
Person  of  the.  Incomprehensible  Jehovah. 

The  doctrine  then  which  we  are  to  consider  this  Evening,  and 
to  place  in  a  light  which  involves  no  contradiction  of  those 
fundamental  principles,  is  that  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ: 
14 


210  LECTURE  XIV. 

and  we  are  to  show  in  what  it  consisted;  and  thus,  how  it  is 
compatible  with  his  Oneness  with  the  Godhead,  and  with  the  attri- 
butes of  Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom,  as  forming  the  Essential  Nature 
of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship. 

In  the  words  of  our  text,  and  in  others  of  his  discourses,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  explicitly  informs  us,  that  he  came  into  the 
world  to  lay  down  his  life  for  the  salvation  of  mankind  :  as  He 
says  on  another  occasion,  He  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.  In 
what  manner  then,  be  it  inquired,  are  men  benefited  by  the 
laying  down  of  the  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  In  the  con- 
text of  the  passage  we  have  just  read,  the  Divine  Speaker 
declares,  that  he  lays  down  his  life  expressly  that  He  may  take 
it  again  :  May  we  not  therefore  infer,  that  his  taking  it  again 
is  as  essential  to  the  salvation  of  man  as  his  laying  it  down  ? 
Two  or  three  previous  investigations  are  necessary  to  enable  us 
to  give  satisfactory  answers  to  these  inquiries.  To  come  to  par- 
ticulars, it  is  necessary,  first,  to  consider,  what  is  the  true  idea 
attached  to  sacrifices  in  the  Holy  Word ;  and,  how  the  Lord's 
death  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  sacrifice. 

In  our  last  two  Lectures  we  endeavoured  to  show,  by  the 
testimony  of  Scripture,  that  Redemption  properly  consists' in  the 
liberation  of  man  from  the  power  of  hell,  and  that  the  Lord's 
redeeming  acts  were  the  conflicts  by  which,  while  in  the  world, 
and  especially  at  his  death,  He  subdued  the  infernal  hosts,  so 
that  man  was  no  longer  necessarily  held  a  slave  in  their  chains. 
This  is  a  view  of  the  subject  that  is  at  present  too  little  attended 
to,  notwithstanding  the  Apostle  Paul,  inHeb.  ii.  14,  15,  expressly 
declares,  that  Jesus  took  on  Him  flesh  and  blood  "  that  through 
death  He  might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that 
is,  the  devil,  and  deliver  them  who  through  fear  of  death  were 
all  their  life-time  subject  to  bondage  ;"  and  John,  with  the  same 
Clearness  testifies  [1  Epist.  hi.  8,]  that  "  for  this  purpose  the 
Son  of  God  was  manifested,  that  He  might  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil."  How  great  then  is  the  error,  when  men  regard 
the  redemption  wrought  by  the  Lord,  as  consisting,  not  in  a 
deliverance  from  the  power  or  wrath  of  the  devil,  but  from  the 
wrath  of  God!    Similar  errors  are  entertained  respecting  the 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


211 


nature  of  sacrifices  in  general,  and  that  of  Jesus  Christ  in  par- 
ticular, and  of  course  respecting  the  nature  of  the  atonement 
thus  procured  for  mankind.  It  is  commonly  supposed,  as  has 
before  been  stated,  that  redemption  and  atonement  are  one  and 
the  same  thing,  both  consisting  in  the  sufferings  which  the  Lord 
underwent  on  the  cross,  when  He  is  conceived  to  have  paid  the 
whole  penalty  due  to  the  sins  of  mankind,  suffering  it  in  their 
stead.  By  such  discharge  of  the  penalty,  He  is  understood  to 
have  delivered  his  people  from  the  Father's  wrath  (in  which  his 
redemption  is  supposed  to  have  consisted),  by  satisfying  the 
requirements  of  avenging  justice  (which  is  regarded  as  con- 
stituting his  atonement).  These  views  are  conceived  to  be 
strenghtened  by  this  circumstance,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  a  few 
places  spoken  of  as  a  sacrifice  for  us :  as  when  Paul  says  to  the 
Ephesians  [chap.  v.  2],  "Walk  in  love ;  as  Christ  also  hath 
loved  us,  and  hath  given  himself  for  us,  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice 
to  God  for  a  sweet  smelling  savour  :"  and  when  Jesus  himself 
says  in  our  text,  "I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep,"  He  is  sup- 
posed to  mean,  as  a  sacrificed  victim.  The  words  are  understood 
to  imply,  that  He  laid  down  his  natural  life  in  exchange  for  our 
eternal  life,  dying,  not  merely  for  us,  or  for  our  benefit,  but  in 
our  place,  or  instead  of  us,  as  a  victim  of  wrath  substituted  in 
our  stead.  That  he  did  lay  down  his  life  for  us,  and  that  if  He 
had  not  done  so,  we  must  have  perished  eternally,  ice  most 
cordially  admit ;  and  if  this  were  what  theologians  mean  when 
they  say  that  He  died  instead  of  us,  we  should  most  entirely 
concur  in  the  sentiment.  It  is  most  true,  as  Isaiah  declares, 
that  "the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  Him,  and  by  his 
stripes  we  are  healed."  Still  this  was  not  effected,  by  a  trans- 
fer to  Him  of  the  punishment  of  guilt  individually  due  to 
us,  according  to  the  prevailing  idea ;  as  will,  I  trust,  presently 
appear. 

This  bearing  of  the  punishment  due  to  the  sins  of  man  by  the 
Lord  on  the  cross,  is  supposed  to  be  the  thing  pointed  at  in  all 
the  sacrifices  of  the  Levitical  law :  and  to  ascertain  the  truth 
respecting  this  interpretation,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider 
what  is  the  true  idea  attached  to  sacrifices  throughout  the  Holy 
Word. 


212 


LECTURE  XIV. 


The  notion  commonly  entertained  of  a  sacrifice  by  professors 
of  religion  at  the  present  day,  and  indeed  the  notion  which  it 
always  bears  in  common  discourse,  is  that  of  a  painful  surrender 
of  something  very  dear  to  us,  to  part  with  which  is  like  parting 
with  life.  But  how  remote  is  this  from  the  genuiue  import  of 
the  word,  and  from  every  thing  that  is  said  about  it  in  Scripture  ! 
The  word  sacrifice  etymologically  signifies,  as  a  verb,  to  make 
sacred,  and  as  a  noun,  a  thing  made  sacred.  In  Hebrew,  the  idea 
conveyed  by  one  of  the  verbs  used  to  denote  it,  is,  to  slaughter 
for  food,  and  by  the  noun  thence  derived,  that  which  is  slaughtered 
for  food:  for  the  sacrifices  were  always  considered  in  the  light  of 
food  presented  to  Jehovah,  or  devoted  to  his  use.  Another  verb 
employed  means,  to  cause  to  ascend,  and  the  noun  from  it,  the  thing 
sent  up,  or  presented.  But  are  we  to  make  offerings  to  the  Lord 
so  grudgingly  as  to  feel  what  we  offer  as  a  painful  relinquish- 
ment? Following  the  common  notion  of  sacrifice,  as  something 
parted  with  very  reluctantly,  it  is  often  imagined,  that  our  sins 
and  evil  propensities  are  what  we  are  required  to  sacrifice  unto 
God.  We  are  to  surrender  them,  it  is  true  ;  but  if,  as  is  so  evi- 
dent, a  sacrifice  is  a  thing  made  sacred,  devoted  to  the  use  and 
service  of  the  Lord,  and  even  considered  as  being  equally  agree- 
able to  Him  as  food  is  to  us,  how  is  it  possible  that  our  sins  can 
be  thus  devoted  and  applied?  The  truth  then  is,  that  all  the 
numerous  sacrifices  and  offerings  prescribed  in  the  Levitical  code, 
represent  the  true  worship  of  the  Lord  from  all  the  various  affec- 
tions of  a  heavenly  nature  that  can  be  inseminated  by  Him  into 
the  human  heart;  and  the  offering  of  them  up  is  expressive  of 
the  heartfelt  acknowledgment  that  all  our  graces  are  from  the 
Lord  "alone;  in  which  acknowledgment  the  true  worship  of  the 
Lord  essentially  consists. 

Many  declarations,  giving  this  view  of  the  nature  of  sacrifices, 
are  to  be  found  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  David, 
in  the  depth  of  his  humiliation  for  his  crimes,  when,  if  at  any 
time,  the  mind  would  be  disposed  to  fly  to  external  sacrifices,  if 
either  in  themselves,  or  as  representing  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus 
Christ,  they  could  be  supposed  to  possess  any  efficacy,  declares 
their  utter  uselessness  in  themselves.  He  says  to  the  Lord 
[Ps.  li.  16, 17],  "Thou  desirest  not  sacrifice;  else  would  I  give 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESL'S  CHRIST. 


213 


it:  thou  delightest  not  in  burnt  offering.  The  sacrifices  of  God 
are  a  broken  spirit :  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  0  God,  thou 
wilt  not  despise  :"  evident]}'  instructing  us  what  the  sacrifices  of 
God  really  are,  and,  of  course,  what  the  Levitical  sacrifices  repre- 
sent ; — namely  a  state  of  mind  which  acknowledges  in  all  hu- 
mility its  own  unworthiness,  and  thus  is  receptive  of  the  Lord's 
mercies.  Accordingly,  Jehovah  says  by  Hosea  [ch.  vi.  6],  in  a 
passage  repeatedly  quoted  b}r  the  Lord  in  the  Gospel,  "  I  desired 
mercy,  and  not  sacrifice;  and  the  knowledge  of  God,  more  than 
burnt  offerings :" — whence  it  is  evident,  that  the  divine  Re- 
prover means  to  say,  that  outward  sacrifices,  separate  from  the 
dispositions  of  heart  and  mind  meant  to  be  represented  by  them, 
cannot  be  accepted  by  the  Lord;  and  that  the  heavenly  graces 
of  which  they  are  designed  to  be  emblems,  are  mercy  or  love, 
with  the  knowledge  of  God  or  a  living  faith  in  Him.  Similar  is 
the  testimony  of  the  Apostles.  Paul  says  to  the  Romans  [ch. 
xii.  1],  "I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  that 
ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  hoby  and  acceptable 
unto  God;  which  is  your  reasonable  service:" — where  it  is  evi- 
dent, that  by  a  living  sacrifice  he  means  a  pure  life  and  conver- 
sation,— a  devotedness  of  the  whole  man  to  the  service  of  God. 
This  he  calls  our  "reasonable  service,"  meaning  by  that  phrase, 
our  mental  worship,  as  contrasted  with  the  ceremonial  or  ritual 
service  or  worship  of  the  Levitical  code,  and  as  being  what  this 
represented.  So,  when  mentioning  a  present  he  had  received 
from  the  Phihppians,  he  calls  it  [chap.  iv.  8]  "  an  odour  of  a 
sweet  smell,  a  sacrifice  acceptable,  well  pleasing  to  God  :"  thus 
applying  the  term  to  a  work  of  love.  So  again  to  the  Hebrews 
[ch.  xiii.  15,  16]  :  "By  him  (that  is,  Jesus)  let  us  offer  the  sacri- 
fice of  praise  unto  God  continually,  that  is,  the  fruit  of  our  lips, 
giving  thanks  to  his  name :  but  to  do  good,  and  to  communicate, 
forget  not ;  for  with  such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased."  Here, 
praise  and  doing  good  are  described  as  sacrifices ;  evidently 
showing  that  a  sacrifice  is  not  properly  a  painful  renunciation,  or 
a  submission  to  suffering,  but  a  free-will  offering  of  adoration  and 
love,  proceeding  from  heavenly  affections,  and  manifested  by 
beneficent  deeds.  How  plain  then  is  the  inference,  that  the 
offerings  of  the  Levitical  code  must  be  meant  to  represent  such 


214 


LECTURE  XIV. 


offerings  of  the  heart  and  mind, — a  pure  worship  of  the  Lord,, 
flowing  from  heavenly  affections  offered  to  Him  as  their  sole 
Source  and  Author! 

Now  in  the  views  which  we  thus  attain  of  the  true  import  of 
sacrifices,  as  gathered  from  the  Holy  Word  itself,  what  coun- 
tenance is  afforded  to  those  commonly  entertained  ?  The  fa- 
vourite opinion  respecting  them  is,  that  when  a  person  brought 
an  animal  to  be  sacrificed,  it  implied  an  acknowledgment  that  he 
deserved  to  be  treated  as  the  animal  was  about  to  be  ;  that  as 
the  animal  was  to  suffer  death,  so  the  offerer  deserved  to  suffer 
damnation.  And  as  he  was  required  by  the  law  to  lay  his  hands 
upon  the  head  of  the  victim,  this  was  supposed  to  imply  the  trans- 
fer of  his  guilt  from  himself  to  the  animal ;  which,  therefore, 
was  accepted  in  his  place,  to  appease  by  its  death  the  anger  of 
God.  As,  however,  it  is  palpably  evident  that  the  death  of  an 
animal  is  a  trifling  substitute  for  the  eternal  damnation  of  a  hu- 
man being,  it  is  supposed,  after  all,  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  animal 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  deliverance  of  the  sinner,  except  as 
symbolizing  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  regarded 
as  the  great  victim  to  whom  were  transferred,  though  innocent 
himself,  the  iniquities  of  the  whole  of  the  human  race,  or  at  least 
of  such  of  them  as  are  saved,  and  who,  in  his  sufferings  on  the 
cross,  bore  all  the  punishment  which  was  due  to  them. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  by  all  who  are  desirous  to  learn  the 
ground  upon  which  favorite  opinions  rest,  and  indeed  by  all  who 
wish  to  be  well  established  in  the  truth,  that  the  notions  entertain- 
ed at  the  present  day  on  the  nature  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  Levitical 
code,  are  entirely  borrowed  from  the  Jews.  The  most  learned 
writers  on  theology  used  to  think  they  had  accomplished  their 
point  in  establishing  the  vicarious  nature  of  sacrifice,  and  in  con- 
cluding that  the  death  of  the  victim  was  in  some  way  accepted  in 
lieu  of  the  eternal  damnation  of  him  who  offered  it,  when  they 
had  been  able  to  show  that  this  is  the  opinion  of  the  modern 
Jews  upon  the  subject.  What  the  views  of  the  ancient  Jews 
were,  who  lived  before  the  Babylonian  captivity,  or  even  of  those 
who  lived  prior  to  the  era  of  the  Lord's  advent,  it  is  not  now  easy 
to  ascertain  :  but  it  is  very  probable  that  as,  at  the  period  of  the 
Lord's  coming,  they  had  lost  whatever  just  knowledge  upon  spi  • 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


•215 


ritual  subjects  they  once  possessed,  their  sentiments  upon  the 
nature  of  sacrifices  might  then  be  the  same  as  those  of  their  later 
descendants.  Now  the  stated  confession  made  by  Jews  in  mo- 
dern times  upon  oflfering  up  a  victim  concludes  with  these  words  : 
"  Let  this  be  my  expiation  ;"  words  which  are  capable  of  being 
understood  in  agreement  with  the  truth.  But  the  way  in  which 
they  are  actually  understood  by  them  is  stated  by  Jewish  writers 
to  be  this  :  "  Let  the  evils  or  miseries  which  in  justice  should 
have  fallen  upon  my  head  light  upon  the  head  of  the  victim  which 
I  now  offer."  A  great  Jewish  authority, — the  celebrated  Rabbi 
Abarbanel,  states  the  matter  thus  :  "  They  burned  the  fat  and 
the  kidneys  of  the  victims  upon  the  altar,  for  their  own  inwards, 
these  being  the  seat  of  their  intentions  and  purposes ;  and  the 
legs  of  the  victims  for  their  own  hands  and  feet ;  and  they 
sprinkled  their  blood  instead  of  their  own  blood  and  life  j  con- 
fessing that  in  the  sight  of  God,  the  just  judge  of  things,  the 
blood  of  the  offerers  should  be  shed,  and  their  bodies  burnt,  for 
their  sins, — but  that  through  the  mercy  of  God,  expiation  was 
made  for  them  by  the  victim's  being  put  in  their  place,  by  whose 
blood  and  life,  the  blood  and  life  of  the  offerers  were  redeemed." 
Christian  theologians  quote  these  Jewish  statements  with  appro- 
bation. The  notion  presented  in  them  is  precisely  that  which 
the  divines  of  the  present  day  entertain  of  the  nature  of  sacrifice, 
with  this  only  difference,  that  the}'  conceive  the  sacrifice  of  the 
animal  to  have  been  merely  emblematic  of  that  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  the  evils  or  miseries  which  those  who  offered  the 
Mosaic  sacrifices  merited,  were  not  in  reality  transferred  to  the 
animal  victim,  but  to  the  divine  one.  But  how  wonderful  does 
it  seem  that  enlighted  Christians  (as  they  ought  to  be)  should  go 
to  benighted  Jews  for  instruction  in  one  of  the  deepest  mysteries 
of  their  faith,  and  should  exhibit  as  the  central  point  of  gospel 
light  a  sentiment  drawn  from  the  bosom  of  Jewish  darkness  ! 
What  says  the  Divine  Teacher  respecting  these  blind  guides  ! — 
M  Ye  have  made  the  law  of  God  of  none  effect  through  your  tra- 
dition." [Matt.  xv.  6.]  "  The  law  of  God"  includes  the  whole 
of  the  Mosaic  ritual,  and  indeed  the  whole  of  the  Jewish 
Scriptures  ;  the  true  meaning  of  which  the  Divine  Author  of  them 
thus  declares  to  have  been  entirely  extinguished  among  that 


216 


LECTURE  XIV. 


people.  Assuredly,  the  primary  doctrine  of  the  Christian  religion 
ought  still  less  to  be  founded  upon  Jewish  than  upon  Romish  tra- 
ditions, but  solely  upon  the  Word  of  God,  viewed  in  the  true  light 
of  the  Gospel. 

It  is,  however,  certain,  that  both  the  traditions  of  the  Jews, 
and  the  application  of  them  by  Christians,  are  totally  unwarranted 
by  the  sacred  text  itself.  The  Scriptures  themselves  afford  no 
sanction  whatever  to  the  notion,  that  the  sins  of  the  offerer  of 
sacrifice  were  considered  as  transferred  to  the  victim,  and  that 
the  punishment  due  to  the  human  sinner  was  regarded  as  en- 
dured in  his  place  by  the  unoffending  animal. 

If,  for  instance,  the  sins  of  the  offerer  were  considered  to  be 
transferred  to  the  victim,  it  is  evident  that  the  animal,  when  thus 
symbolically  loaded  with  guilt,  must  be  unclean,  and  would,  un- 
der a  typical  dispensation,  be  viewed  with  horror,  as  something 
profane.  So,  also,  if  its  death  was  symbolical  of  the  penalty  of 
eternal  damnation  merited  by  him  that  offered  it,  it  is  plain  that, 
after  it  was  slain,  it  must  have  been  regarded  as  representing  a 
lost  soul  in  hell.  To  eat,  therefore,  of  such  an  animal,  must  have 
been  a  greater  abomination,  than  to  eat  of  swine's  flesh,  or 
any  other  meat  prohibited  as  unclean.  Was  this  the  case  ? 
Exactly  the  contrary.  It  is  repeatedly  declared,  both  respecting 
the  slain  animal  sacrifices  and  the  bread  offerings,  that  they  are 
most  holy.  We  read  thus  [Lev.  vi.  24 — 27,  29]  of  the  sin  offer- 
ing, which  might  be  supposed  to  be  the  most  defiled  of  all : 
"  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Speak  unto  Aaron 
and  to  his  sons,  saying,  This  is  the  law  of  the  sin  offering  :  In 
the  place  where  the  burnt-offering  is  killed,  shall  the  sin-offering 
be  killed  before  the  Lord :  it  is  most  holy.  The  priest  that  of- 
fereth  it  for  sin  shall  eat  it :  in  the  holy  place  shall  it  be  eaten, 
in  the  court  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation.  Whosoever 
shall  touch  the  flesh  of  it  shall  be  holy :  and  when  there  is 
sprinkled  of  the  blood  thereof  upon  any  garment,  thou  shalt 
wash  that  whereon  it  was  sprinkled  in  the  holy  place. — All  the 
males  among  the  priests  shall  eat  thereof:  it  is  most  holy."  Is 
not  this  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  notion  that  the  sins  of  the 
offerer  were  symbolically  transferred  to  it,  and  that  the  death  in- 
flicted on  it  was  in  commutation  for  his  sinking  into  death  eternal? 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


217 


It  is  however  true,  that,  on  one  occasion,  the  sins  of  the  people 
were  considered  as  transferred  to  an  animal.  Let  us  then  see 
what  light  this  remarkable  circumstance  will  throw  on  the  design 
of  the  sacrifices,  in  general. 

At  the  great  day  of  expiation,  as  it  was  called,  which  occurred 
but  once  a  year,  the  high  priest  was  commanded  to  take  two 
goats,  and  to  cast  lots  upon  them,  one  lot  for  the  Lord,  and  the 
other  lot  for  the  scape-goat.  The  goat  thus  allotted  to  the  Lord  was 
to  be  sacrificed  in  the  usual  way ;  after  which  it  was  commanded, 
[Lev.  xvi.  20,  21,]  that  the  high  priest  "  should  bring  the  live 
goat,  and  should  lay  both  his  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  live 
goat,  and  confess  over  him  all  the  iniquities  of  the  children  of 
Israel,  and  all  their  transgressions  in  all  their  sins,  putting  them 
upon  the  head  of  the  goat."  Now  this  exactly  answers  to  the 
idea  commonly  entertained  of  the  nature  of  sacrifices  in  general. 
This  goat  is  typically  loaded  with  the  sins  of  the  people.  Well, 
then  ;  if  the  common  ideas  are  correct,  he  must  be  fitted  for  a 
more  solemn  sacrifice  than  any  other  of  the  victims  offered, 
respecting  which  it  is  only  occasionally  said,  that  the  offerer 
should  put  his  hand  upon  their  head,  without  a  word  about  trans- 
ferring sins  to  them.  Here,  however,  the  whole  is  done  as  fully 
as  the  warmest  advocate  for  the  common  notions  could  desire. 
If  then  the  death  of  the  victim  represented  the  punishment 
deserved  by  man  for  his  sins,  this  goat,  loaded  with  the  sins  of 
the  whole  congregation,  must  perish  most  certainly, — perhaps  be 
burnt  alive,  to  represent  more  exactly  the  torments  of  the  lost 
in  hell.  Yet  nothing  of  the  kind  took  place.  This  goat  was  not 
sacrificed  :  but  the  sacred  record  immediately  adds  [vers.  21, 
22],  that  the  priest  "  shall  send  him  away  by  a  fit  man  into  the 
wilderness  :  and  the  goat  shall  bear  upon  him  all  their  iniquities 
unto  a  land  not  inhabited  ;  and  he  shall  let  go  the  goat  in  the 
wilderness."  As,  also,  the  animals  that  were  really  sacrificed 
had  the  effect  of  making  all  that  touched  them  holy,  so  this 
goat,  thus  sent  into  the  wilderness  laden  with  sins,  had  the 
effect  of  making  those  who  touched  him  unholy :  for  it  was  com- 
manded [ver.  26],  that  "  he  who  let  go  the  scape-goat  should 
wash  his  clothes,  and  bathe  his  flesh  in  water,"  before  he  was 
allowed  to  re-enter  the  camp. 


218 


LECTURE  XIV. 


Is  it  possible  to  desire  any  plainer  evidence  to  instruct  us  in 
the  real  design  of  the  Levitical  sacrifices  ?  Can  the  animals 
which  were  actually  slain,  and  which  not  only  procured  blessings 
for  him  who  offered  them,  but  had  also  a  sanctifying  influence 
upon  all  who  touched  them,  possibly  signify  anything  else 
than  what  we  have  already  seen  the  inspired  prophets  and  apos- 
tles regarded  as  constituting  the  only  real  sacrifices, — the  pious 
breathings  of  a  heart  filled  with  pure  heavenly  affections,  wor- 
shipping under  their  influence  its  adored  Lord,  elevating  to  Him 
the  heavenly  graces  which  come 'from  Him,  in  the  devout  ac- 
knowledgment that  He  is  the  Author  of  them,  and  of  everything 
that  is  good  ?  And  can  the  animal  which  was  representatively 
loaded  with  the  sins  of  the  people,  and  sent  into  the  wilderness, 
denote  anything  else  than  the  rejection  of  all  the  evils,  with 
which  the  devout  penitent  feels  himself  oppressed,  to  the  infernal 
abodes  from  whence  they  come ;  in  the  acknowledgment,  that 
his  selfish  nature  is  near  akin  to  hell, — that,  as  to  himself  alone, 
hell  is  his  proper  home  ;  but  who,  by  this  acknowledgment,  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  opposite  good  of  which  the  sacrificed  goat 
was  the  emblem,  is  separated  from  hell,  whilst  his  evils  are 
separated  from  him  ;  and  he  worships  the  Lord  from  the  good 
received  in  their  place  ? 

It  being  then  so  clear  that  the  sacrificial  worship  of  the  Jews 
represented  the  worship  of  the  Lord  with  the  purified  affections 
of  a  renewed  heart  and  mind,  we  are  now  prepared  to  form  right 
conceptions  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to 
discern  in  what  it  consisted. 

■  There  are  in  the  whole  no  more  than  five  passages  in  the  whole 
Bible  in  which  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  termed  a 
sacrifice  ;  and  these  all  occur  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul.  The  first 
is  in  that  to  the  Ephesians  [ch.  v.  2],  where  he  says,  "  Walk  in 
love,  as  Christ  also  loved  us,  and  hath  given  himself  for  us,  an 
offering  and  a  sacrifice  unto  God,  for  a  sweet  smelling  savour." 
To  the  Corinthians  the  Apostle  writes  [1  Ep.  v.  7],  "  Christ 
our  passover  is  sacrificed  for  us  :  therefore  let  us  keep  the  feast, 
not  with  old  leaven,  neither  with  the  leaven  of  malice  and 
wickedness  ;  but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and 
truth."    To  the  Hebrews  he  says  [ch.  vii.  27],  that  Jesus 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


21<> 


"  needeth  not  daily,  as  those  high  priests,  to  offer  up  sacrifice, 
first  for  his  own  sins,  and  then  for  the  people's  ;  for  this  he  did 
once,  when  he  offered  up  himself.''''  Again,  to  the  same  [ch.  ix: 
24 — 26].  "  For  Christ  is  not  entered  into  the  holy  places 
made  with  hands,  which  are  the  figures  of  the  true,  but  into 
heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us : 
Nor  yet  that  he  should  offer  himself  often,  as  the  high  priest 
entereth  into  the  holy  place  every  year,  with  the  blood  of  others 
(for  then  must  he  have  often  suffered  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world) :  but  now  once,  in  the  end  of  the  world,  hath  he  appeared 
to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself."  He  again  says  of 
Jesus  in  the  following  chapter  [x.  12],  that  he,  "after  he  had 
offered  once  sacrifice  for  sins,  for  ever  sat  down  on  the  right 
hand  of  God."  These  are  the  only  passages  in  which  the  Lord's 
death  is  expressly  termed  a  sacrifice  :  and  three  out  of  the  five 
occur  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  alone,  because  the  Hebrews 
or  Jews  were  so  much  possessed  with  the  notion  of  the  necessity 
of  retaining  the  sacrifices  of  their  law.  It  is  evident,  indeed, 
that  in  most  of  these  texts,  whether  the  Epistles  in  which  they 
occur  were  expressly  addressed  to  Jews  or  not,  the  object  of  the 
Apostle  is  to  adapt  his  instructions  to  the  preconceived  notions 
of  the  Jews,  withdrawing  them  from  their  persuasion  of  the 
sufficiency  and  necessity  of  the  Levitical  sacrifices,  and  disposing 
them  to  relinquish  their  attachment  to  these  by  offering  them 
something  apparently  similar,  but  much  superior,  in  their  place. 
In  all  the  first  congregations  there  were  converts  and  teachers 
who  were  Jews  and  Jewish  proselytes  :  all  the  Gentiles,  likewise, 
of  those  days,  were  in  the  habit  of  using  animal  sacrifices.  It 
was  therefore  important  to  wean  them  from  these,  by  showing 
them  that  all  which  those  sacrifices  represented  wus  pre-eminently 
fulfilled  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  All  that  he  says  upon  the 
subject,  though  accommodated  to  Jewish  notions,  is  consistent 
with  genuine  truth  ;  only,  to  understand  it  in  its  true  mean- 
ing, it  is  necessary  to  have  a  correct  idea  of  the  nature  and 
signification  of  sacrifice  in  general ;  for  upon  this  must  neces- 
sarily depend  the  notion  we  form  of  the  nature  of  the  sacrifice 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Now  we  have  seen  that,  in  regard  to  man, 
sacrifices  represented  a  pure  worship  of  the  Lord,  flowing  from 


220 


LECTURE  XIV. 


heavenly  affections,  the  various  kinds  of  which  were  denoted  by 
the  various  animals  that  were  sacrificed,  and  offered  to  Him  as 
their  only  Source  and  Author.  Thus  we  have  seen  that  we  are 
exhorted  by  the  Apostle  Paul  to  present  our  bodies  a  living 
sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable  unto  God,"  as  our  "  reasonable 
service" — the  spiritual  worship  of  the  heart  and  mind,  so  called 
in  contrast  to  the  material  and  carnal  worship  of  the  slaughtered 
animals.  We  are  to  present  our  "bodies"  as  such  a  "living 
sacrifice,;"  which  can  mean  nothing  less  than  that  the  whole 
man  is  to  be  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Lord.  We-  are  hereby 
instructed,  that  whoever  does  in  this  manner,  mentally  and 
spiritually,  what  was  represented  in  the  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  actually  becomes  a  sacrifice  himself,  in  the  proper  meaning 
of  the  word, — a  thing  made  sacred  to  the  Lord. 

If,  then,  every  man  who  becomes  truly  regenerate  is  sacrificed 
to  God  according  to  the  genuine  meaning  of  the  term,  we  see 
how  truly  it  may  be  said  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  a  sacri- 
fice. It  had  become  necessary,  in  order  to  the  salvation  of  man, 
after  he  had  declined  from  the  order  of  his  creation  and  sunk 
into  the  low  natural  state  in  which  we  now  behold  him,  that,  as 
was  shown  in  a  former  Lecture,  Jehovah  should  accommodate 
the  influences  which  perpetualby  proceed  from  him  as  light  pro- 
ceeds from  the  sun,  to  the  state  into  which  man  had  descended. 
This,  we  have  seen,  he  did,  by  assuming  the  human  nature,  by 
submitting  to  be  born  into  the  world.  As  however  the  instru- 
mentality of  a  human  mother  was  necessary  to  this  purpose,  the 
human  form  in  which  he  appeared  on  earth  unavoidably  partook 
of  her  infirmities.  The  soul  of  this  body,  or  its  inmost  principle 
of  life,  was  no  other  than  Jehovah  himself :  for  we  read  in  the 
angel's  salutation  to  Mary,  "  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon 
thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee  : 
wherefore  also  that  Holy  thing  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall 
be  called  the  Son  of  God."  It  is  plain  then  that  Jehovah  or 
the  Most  High  was  himself  the  Father  of  the  Holy  thing,  or 
Humanity,  thus  produced  ;  and  as  the  Divine  Essence  is  incapa- 
ble of  being  divided,  it  follows,  that  the  whole  Divine  Essence 
dwelt  in  it,  as  the  soul  dwells  in  its  body.  Still  the  body,  as 
being  born  of  an  imperfect  and  sinful  creature,  partook  of  her 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF   JESUS  CHRIST. 


221 


imperfections.  It  was,  indeed,  at  first,  of  a  nature  altogether 
similar  to  that  of  ordinary  men,  with  the  exception,  that,  by 
virtue  of  being  animated  by  such  a  soul,  it  advanced  to  maturity 
much  more  quickly  and  perfectly.  So  long  then  as  the  human 
form  thus  assumed  partook  at  all  of  what  it  inherited  from  the 
mother,  it  only  received  the  communications  of  the  Divine 
Essence  within  with  more  or  less  of  limitation  :  in  order  to  its 
receiving  the  whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  of  which  the  Apostle 
Paul  declares  [Col.  ii.  9,]  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the 
residence,  and  thus  becoming  properly  the  Divine  Form  of  the 
Divine  Essence,  it  was  necessary  that  it  should  be  entirely  re- 
newed, by  the  continual  bringing  down  of  divine  principles  from 
within,  and  the  successive  extirpation  of  all  that  was  merely 
human,  imperfect,  and  finite,  to  make  way  for  them.  This  pro- 
cess of  putting  off,  was  completed  at  the  passion  of  the  cross,  and 
the  accompanying  process  of  putting  on,  at  his  resurrection  and 
ascension  :  as  was  shown  in  our  Lecture  on  the  Resurrection  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Divine  Nature  of  his  Resurrection- 
Body.  Accordingly,  He  said  to  the  disciples,  who  viewed  his 
crucifixion  as  the  extinction  of  their  hopes  in  Him  as  their 
Redeemer,  "  Ought  not  Christ  to  have  suffered  these  things,  and 
to  enter  into  his  glory"  [Luke  xxiv.  26]  :  where  by  "  suffering 
these  things,"  He  means,  the  painful  process  of  putting  off  the 
frail  humanity  taken  from  the  merely  human  mother ;  and  by 
"  entering  into  his  glory,"  He  means,  the  fully  investing  Himself 
with  a  Divine  Humanity  wholly  taken  from  the  Divine  Father, 
and  returning,  with  his  Humanity  thus  completely  glorified,  into 
the  glory  which  He  had  with  the  Father,  as  the  Divine  Truth  in 
union  with  the  Divine  Good,  "before  the  world  was"  [John 
xvii.  5], — before  created  beings  existed  ;  thus,  before  it  was 
necessary  to  accommodate  the  influences  of  his  Spirit,  or  his 
outflowing  life,  so  as  to  adapt  them  savingly  to  affect  debased 
and  fallen  creatures.  This  could  not  be  done,  but  by  assuming 
and  glorifying  the  Human  Nature ;  wherefore  wc  are  told,  that 
"  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet 
glorified"  [John  vii.  39].  But  when  the  Humanity  was  not 
only  assumed,  but  glorified,  such  aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were 


222 


LECTURE  XIV. 


given.  This  is  what  Paul  means,  when  he  says  that  Jesus  "  now 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us"  [Heh.  vii.  25]  ;  where 
by  interceding  he  does  not  mean  soliciting,  or  intreating,  in  the 
gross  external  idea,  but  acting  as  a  medium,  or  as  what  goes 
between,  which  is  the  strict  meaning  of  the  word  to  enter  cede. 
This  is  the  proper  office  of  the  Divine  Humanity ;  which,  as 
it  were,  receives  into  itself  the  unmitigated  fulness  and  fire  of 
the  Divine  Essence,  and  dispenses  its  influences  to  man  in  a 
form  and  measure  adapted  to  his  state  :  just  as  a  man's  body 
receives  into  itself  the  whole  of  the  powers  of  his  soul,  and 
dispenses  its  energies,  in  the  manner  adapted  to  make  them 
efficient  to  the  purposes  intended,  on  the  persons  and  things 
around  it. 

I  shall  say  some  more  on  these  subjects  in  another  Lecture. 
But  even  from  the  slight  sketch  now  offered,  we  perhaps  may 
be  enabled  to  form  some  just  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  discern  in  what  it  con- 
sisted :  and  according  to  this  truly  Scriptural  view  of  the  im- 
portant subject,  we  see  that  it  is  perfectly  compatible  with 
the  strict  Oneness  of  the  Godhead,  and  with  the  attributes 
of  infinite  Love  and  Wisdom,  as  constituting  the  essential 
nature  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship.  All  is  harmonious, 
when  it  is  seen  that  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  consisted 
in  offering  himself  up  to  the  Father,  or  Divine  Essence,  so 
as  no  longer  to  retain  any  human  infirmity,  but  to  be  wholly 
filled  with  the  Godhead,  becoming  capable  of  receiving  it 
in  all  its  infinite  fulness.  Let  us  be  anxious  to  profit  by 
the  Lord's  goodness  herein,  in  the  manner  designed  by  Him. 
We  learn  from  what  has  been  offered,  that  Jesus  Christ  became 
a  sacrifice  for  us,  but  not  instead  of  us*;  not  to  dispense 
with  the  necessity  for  our  offering  such  spiritual  sacrifices  as 
were  represented  by  the  ceremonial  ones  of  the  Levitical  law, 
but  to  enable  us  to  perform  them.  By  his  "  going  up  on  high," 
as  expressed  by  the  Psalmist, — that  is,  by  the  exaltation  of  his 
Humanity  to  union  with  the  Divinity,  which  was  making  it  a 
sacrifice,  he  "  received  gifts  for  men  ;"  that  is,  became  the 
Dispenser  of  divine  graces  in  a  form  adapted  to  man's  recep- 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


223 


tion.  Let  us  then  be  careful  to  prepare  our  hearts  for  their 
reception,  and  to  look  to  him  fbft  their  communication.  Let  us 
never  forget  the  express  purpose  for  which  the  Lord  became  a 
sacrifice;  "who,"  as  the  Apostle  Paul  declares  [Titus  ii.  14], 
"gave  himself  for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all 
iniquit}-,  and  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar  people  zealous  of 
good  works." 


LECTURE  XV. 


FURTHER  PARTICULARS  RELATING  TO  THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES, 
EVINCING  THAT  THEY  DID  NOT  REPRESENT  THE  SACRIFICE  OF 
JESUS  CHRIST  AS  THIS  IS  COMMONLY  UNDERSTOOD,  BUT  THAT 
THEY  DID  REPRESENT  IT  ACCORDING  TO  ITS  TRUE  NATURE  ; 
WHICH  THEY  GREATLY  ILLUSTRATE. 


Psalm  1.  7—15. 

"Hear,  0  my  people,  and  I  will  speak;  O  Israel,  and  I  will 
testify  against  thee:  lam  God,  even  thy  God.  I  will  not  reprove 
thee  for  thy  sacrifices  or  thy  burnt-offerings,  to  have  been  continu- 
ally before  me.  I  will  take  no  bullock  out  of  thy  house,  nor  he-goat 
out  of  thy  folds  ;  for  every  beast  of  the  forest  is  mine,  and  the  cattle 
upon  a  thousand  hills.  I  know  all  the  fowls  of  the  mountains,  and 
the  wild-beasts  of  the  field  are  mine.  If  I  were  hungry,  I  would 
not  tell  thee  ;  for  the  world  is  mine,  and  the  fulness  thereof.  Will 
I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls,  or  drink  the  blood  of  goats  ?  Offer  unto 
God  thanksgiving,  and  pay^thy  vows  unto  the  Most  High  ;  and 
call  upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble :  I  will  deliver  thee,  and  thou 
shalt  glorify  me.'''' 

In  our  last  Lecture  we  treated  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Sacrifice 
of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  considered  several  particulars  tending  to 
show  in  what  it  consisted ;  and  thus,  how  it  is  compatible  with 
his  Oneness  with  the  Godhead,  and  with  the  attributes  of  Infinite 
Love  and  Infinite  Wisdom,  as  forming  the  essential  nature  of 
the  Divine  Object  of  worship.  We  explained  what  is  the  true  idea 
attached  to  sacrifices  as  mentioned  in  the  Holy  Word,  and  how 
different  that  idea  is  from  the  notions  commonly  entertained, 
both  of  the  meaning  of  the  sacrifices  in  general,  and  of  the 
nature  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ ;  the  true  character  of 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


225 


which  we  were  thus,  I  trust,  enabled  to  establish.  But  there 
are  other  particulars  connected  with  sacrifices,  which  strongly 
tend  to  illustrate  the  subject:  on  account,  therefore,  of  its  great 
importance,  I  will  consider  some  of  these,  and  further  elucidate 
some  that  were  but  slightly  touched  upon  before,  in  the  present 
Lecture. 

I  will  consider,  in  the  first  place,  the  light  thrown  upon  the 
subject  by  the  passage  which  I  have  read  as  a  text.  I  will  next 
advert  to  some  of  the  chief  of  the  particulars  directed  to  be  observed 
in  the  offering  of  sacrifices,  and  will  compare  some  of  thcn\  with 
the  circumstances  attending  the  crucifixion  of  the  Saviour.  And 
I  will,  in  the  third  place,  revert  to  the  true  nature  of  the  sacrifice  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

I.  The  whole  of  the  Psalm  from  which  the  verses  that  I 
have  read  as  a  text  are  taken,  is  very  remarkable  for  the  strong 
testimony  which  it  bears  to  the  real  character  of  the  worship  by 
sacrifices  established  in  the  Israelitish  and  Jewish  Church.  The 
direct  and  obvious  instruction  which  the  passage  that  I  have 
read  conveys,  evinces  the  inutility,  the  utter  worthlessness,  and 
thus  the  unacceptableness,  of  the  offering  up  of  sacrifices,  literallv 
regarded,  and  when  the  worship  of  the  offerer  went  no  further 
than  to  the  performance  of  the  outward  act ;  whence  it  follows, 
that  it  only  could  have  been  permitted,  under  the  Israelitish  and 
other  representative  dispensations,  for  the  sake  of  the  spiritual 
worship  which  it  was  intended  to  shadow  forth,  and  with  some 
degree  of  which,  even  under  the  most  external  dispensations,  it 
must,  to  be'productive  of  any  benefit  to  the  worshipper,  have 
been  joined.    It  is,  indeed,  a  fact,  howsoever  contrary  to  com- 
mon apprehension  it  may  appear,  that  sacrifices  were  never,  * 
strictly  speaking,  of  divine  origin,  for  they  were  never  of  the 
divine  will :  they  were  only  of  divine  permission,  and  thus  of 
apparent  command,  by  reason  that  the  Israelites,  had  they  not 
been  allowed  the  worship  of  sacrifices,  were  of  so  gross  a  charac- 
ter, that  they  would  not  have  been  capable  of  any  divine  worship 
at  all :  had  they  not  been  permitted  to  offer  sacrifices  to  the  true 
God,  they  could  not  have  been  restrained  from  sacrificing  to  the 
false  gods  that  were  worshipped  by  the'nations  around  them. 
15 


226 


LECTURE  XV. 


This  fact,  then, — that  sacrifices  were  not  of  divine  origin, — we 
will  first  offer  some  observations  to  prove. 

It  is  plain  from  the  bible-history,  that  sacrifices  were  in  use 
among  the  ancient  nations  long  before  they  were  recognised  by 
the  divine  law  given  by  Moses  to  the  Israelites :  but,  till  that 
law  was  given,  not  a  word  is  said  to  indicate  that  there  was  any 
divine  command  for  the  use  of  them.  Whether  they  were  ori- 
ginally introduced  by  divine  command  or  not,  is  a  question  which 
has  been  much  and  warmly  discussed  among  theological  writers  : 
but,  were  any  divine  command  extant  upon  the  subject,  it  is 
obvious  that  no  such  controversy  could  have  been  raised.  Many 
feel  that  unless  sacrifices  had  a  divine  origin,  there  is  no  ground 
for  the  doctrines  which  have  been  raised  in  modern  times  re- 
specting the  nature  and  efficacy  of  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  grand  argument  to  prove  that  they  had  such  an  origin  is 
drawn  from  the  sacrifice,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  which  is  said 
to  have  been  offered  by  Abel,  and  to  have  been  acceptable  to  the 
Lord;  and  it  is  contended  that  if  Abel  had  offered  such  a  sacri- 

•  fice  of  his  own  accord,  without  a  divine  command  for  it,  we  can 
hardly  suppose  it  would  have  been  so  favorably  accepted.  This, 
however,  is  all  supposition  ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that 
Abel's  offering  is  not,  in  the  sacred  history,  called  a  sacrifice  at 
all,  and  no  mention  of  any  of  the  forms  of  sacrifice  is  made  in 
relation  to  it.  All  that  we  read  is,  that  "  Cain  brought  of  the 
fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  unto  the  Lord  :  and  Abel  also 
brought  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock,  and  of  the  fat  thereof : 
And  the  Lord  had  respect  unto  Abel  and  his  offering :  but  unto 
Cain  and  to  his  offering  he  had  not  respect."    And  it  has  been 

,  strongly  argued,  that  as  the  slaying  of  animals  for  food,  or,  as 
appears,  for  any  other  purpose;  was  not  permitted  till  after  the 
flood,  it  is  not  likely  that  Abel  should  do  an  act,  when  he 
meant  to  worship  the  Lord,  which  he  must  himself  have  re- 
garded as  shocking  and  criminal :  and  that  hence  the  offerings 
of  the  flock  could  only  consist  of  such  things  derived  from 
the  flock  as  he  had  permission  to  use ;  namely,  the  wool  and 
the  milk,  with  the  products  of  the  latter,  such  as  butter  and 
cheese. 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


227 


But  had  the  nature  of  this  part  of  the  divine  writings  been 
understood,  the  learned  would  not  have  taken  so  much  pains  as 
they  have,  on  the  one  side,  to  prove,  and  on  the  other,  to  dis- 
prove, the  divine  origin  of  animal  sacrifices  from  the  offering  of 
Abel;  since,  had  the  terms  in  which  that  offering  is  described 
been  as  plain  as  they  are  obscure,  they  still  could  not  possibly 
prove  that  any  animal  sacrifice  was  offered  by  Abel  at  all, — much 
less  that  he  performed  such  a  sacrifice  in  compliance  with  a  divine 
command  :  since,  we  are  convinced,  these  first  chapters  of 
Genesis,  which  relate  the  history  of  Adam  and  Eve,  of  Cain  and 
Abel,  and  their  other  posterity,  were  never  intended  by  their 
Divine  Author  to  be  taken  as  a  literal  history  of  natural  events, 
but  are  a  history  solely  of  the  spiritual  and  moral  state  of  man 
under  the  first  Church  or  dispensation  that  ever  existed  on  this 
globe,  couched  altogether  in  the  language  of  pure  allegory,  and 
not  of  external  history  at  all.  Hence  it  is  that  we  meet  in  this 
part  of  the  Word  of  God  with  such  apparently  extravagant 
statements  ;  as  the  formation  of  woman  by  taking  a  rib  out  of 
the  man's  side,  and  the  seduction  of  this  woman  by  a  serpent, 
who  possessed  the  faculty  of  speech  as  perfectly  as  a  human 
being;  with  the  loss  of  paradise,  not  through  the  commission  of 
any  act  immoral  in  itself,  but  merely  through  the  eating  of  the 
fruit  of  a  certain  tree  ;  the  injury  resulting  from  which  might 
also  have  been  averted,  by  the  appropriate  remedy  of  eating  the 
fruit  of  another  tree,  had  not  the  Divine  Being  himself  pre- 
vented it,  and  thus  made  the  mischief  permanent,  by  forcibly 
expelling  the  unhappy  culprit  from  the  place,  where,  alone, 
either  tree  grew.  Surely  there  is  in  all  this,  and  much  more 
that  is  said  in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  so  obviously  the 
character  of  pure  allegory,  that  it  is  wonderful  how  the  readers 
of  the  Scriptures  should  ever  have  come  to  view  it  in  any  other 
light.  The  early  fathers,  as  they  are  called,  of  the  church,  ali 
regarded  the  whole  narrative  as  a  pure  allegory  :  and  it  is  a 
woeful  mark  of  the  carnal  and  darkened  state  into  which  the 
church  in  latter  ages  has  fallen,  that  theologians  should  now,  in 
general,  deny  it  to  be  of  this  character,  and  affirm  its  literal  truth. 
It  is  proper,  however,  to  observe,  that  it  would  be  a  great  mistake 
to  suppose  the  Scnpture-history  at  large  to  be  mere  allegory, 


228 


LECTURE  XV. 


and  not  to  be  literally  true  :  this  is  only  the  case  with  the  early 
chapters  of  Genesis  :  and  the  reason  why  these  chapters  are 
written  in  such  a  style  is,  because  they  describe  the  state  of  a 
people  who  were  in  the  habit  of  conveying  spiritual  and  moral 
truths  in  the  form  of  allegorical  narratives,  and  who  did  not 
regard  mere  natural  events  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  recorded 
at  all :  therefore  the  part  of  the  divine  Word  which  describes  the 
state  of  such  a  people  is  written  in  a  style  similar  to  that  which 
they  themselves  used. 

In  every  respect,  then,  it  is  plain,  that  what  is  said  regarding 
the  offering  of  Abel,  has  no  tendency  to  show  that  the  actual 
slaying  of  animals  in  worship  had  a  commencement  in  divine 
command  or  authority.  Nothing  that  appears  like  a  divine 
command  for  the  practice  is  to  be  found  till  the  giving  of  the 
law  by  Moses  :  and  that  then  it  was  not  of  divine  will,  but  only 
of  divine  permission,  (though  this  permission,  when  descending 
into  natural  language  accommodated  to  the  state  of  the  Jewish 
people,  takes  the  form  of  command,)  is  very  plainly  declared,  or 
shown,  in  various  parts  of  the  Holy  Word.  Thus  the  Lord  says 
expressly  by  Jeremiah  [ch.  vii.  22],  "I  spake  not  unto  your 
fathers,  nor  commanded  them,  in  the  day  that  I  brought  them 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  concerning  burnt  offerings  and  sacri- 
fices :  but  this  thing  commanded  I  them,  saying,  Obey  my  voice, 
and  I  will  be  your  God  and  ye  shall  be  my  people  :  and  walk  ye 
in  all  the  ways  that  I  have  commanded  you,  that  it  may  be  well 
with  you."  Here  the  Lord  expressly  declares,  that  He  did  not 
command  the  presenting  of  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices,  but 
only  the  duties  of  obedience ;  whence  we  must  conclude,  that 
though  the  directions  about  sacrifices  are  also  given  as  if  com- 
manded, yet  in  their  literal  form,  or  as  to  their  outward  per- 
formance, they  were  not  of  command,  but  only  as  to  the  spiritual 
things  represented  by  them  ;  and  that  the  external  sacrifices 
themselves  were  only  permitted,  as  unrestrained  divorce  was 
permitted,  in  accommodation  to  the  gross  state  of  the  Israelitish 
people,  or  on  account  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts.  It  will 
follow,  also,  that  the  actual  performance  of  the  sacrifices  was 
not  of  divine  appointment,  but  only  the  mode  of  it ;  so  that, 
since  it  was  seen  that  the  people  would  have  sacrifices,  they 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


229 


might  be  presented  in  such  an  order  as  to  be  truly  representative 
of  divine  and  spiritual  things. 

In  the  same  manner  the  Lord  denies  sacrifices  to  have  been 
originated  by  Him,  when  he  says  by  Isaiah  [ch.  i.  11,  12],  "  To 
what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices  unto  me  ?  I 
am  full  of  the  burnt  offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts  ; 
and  I  delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  rams,  or  of  he- 
goats.  When  ye  come  to  appear  before  me,  who  hath  required 
this  at  your  hand,  to  tread  my  courts  ?"  Where  he  explicitly 
declares  that  the  actual  slaughter  of  animals  in  sacrifice  was 
never  required  by  Him.  So  He  says  by  Hosea  [ch.  vi.  6],  "I 
desire  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice,  and  the  knowledge  of  God  more 
than  burnt-offerings ;"  where  indeed,  as  expressed  by  the  trans- 
lators, it  appears  as  if  burnt-offerings  were  desired  by  the  Lord, 
only  not  so  much  as  the  knowledge  of  God  :  but  the  correct  idea 
according  to  the  original  is,  that  burnt-offerings  were  not  desired 
at  all,  just  as  sacrifice,  of  which  burnt-offerings  were  a  species^ 
is  said  not  to  be  desired ;  only,  for  the  sake  of  changing  the. 
expression,  in  regard  to  burnt-offerings  a  form  of  speech  is  used, 
which  either  denotes  an  absolute  negative,  or  only  a  comparative 
preference,  according  as  it  is  applied  :  here,  as  an  absolute  nega- 
tive is  expressed  in  the  first  clause,  the  same  is  meant  in  the 
second  also.  In  Micah,  likewise,  we  have  that  beautiful  and 
affecting  soliloquy  of  the  prophet,  speaking  as  a  member  of 
the  church  earnestly  inquiring  the  way  of  salvation  [ch.  vi. 
6,  7]  :  "  Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow 
myself  before  the  high  God?  Shall  I  come  before  him  with 
burnt-offerings,  with  calves  of  a  year  old  ?  Will  the  Lord 
be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or  with  ten  thousand 
rivers  of  oil  ?  Shall  I  give  my  first-born  for  my  transgression, 
the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul?"  Then  comes 
the  plain  and  simple  answer  [ver.  8]  :  "  He  hath  shewed  thee, 
O  man,  what  is  good  :  and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee, 
but  to  do  justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
thy  God  ?"  Thus  the  most  costly  sacrifices  are  declared  to  be 
utterly  useless,  and  the  whole  terms  of  acceptance  with  God 
are  resolved  into  the  simple  duties  of  justice  and  mercy  or 
charity,  with  an  humble  walk  before  the  Lord,  or  a  reference 


230 


LECTURE  XV. 


of  the  thought  and  heart  to  Him  through  all  the  actions  of  our 
lives. 

Not  less  decisive,  as  proving  that  the  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  though  the  Lord  had  condescended  to  direct  how  they  should 
be  performed,  in  order  that,  since  that  people  could  not  dispense 
with  the  worship  of  sacrifices,  they  might  be  such  as  should 
truly  represent  divine  and  spiritual  things,  and  therefore  such  as 
might  be  connected  with  genuine  worship, — thus,  such  as  might 
afford  a  basis  for  heavenly  influences,  not  such  as  could  only  be 
connected  with  influences  from  hell ; — not  less  decisive,  I  say,  as 
proving  that  the  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic  law,  though  so  far  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Lord,  were  not  actually  desired  by  Him,  is  the 
passage  which  I  have  selected  for  our  present  text.  The  Lord 
is  remonstrating  with  the  professing  members  of  his  church  for 
their  sins :  "  Hear,  O  my  people,"  He  exclaims,  "  and  I  will 
speak :  O  Israel,  and  I  will  testify  against  thee.  I  will  not  re- 
prove thee,"  He  proceeds,  "  for  thy  sacrifices  or  thy  burnt-offer- 
Tngs,  to  have  been  continually  before  me.  I  will  take  no  bullock 
out  of  thy  house,  nor  he-goat  out  of  thy  folds."  Then  he  pro- 
ceeds to  show,  from  rational  considerations,  how  absurd  it  is  to 
imagine  that  the  Lord  can  possibly  desire  sacrifices  of  animals  to 
be  offered  to  Him.  "For,"  He  reminds  us,  "  every  beast  of  the 
forest  is  mine,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills:  I  know  all 
the  fowls  of  the  mountains,  and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  field  are 
mine.  If  I  were  hungry,  I  would  not  tell  thee  :  for  the  world  is 
mine,  and  the  fulness  thereof :  will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls,  or 
drink  the  blood  of  goats?"  Thus,  when  expostulating  with  his 
professing  church  for  their  delinquencies,  the  Lord  expressly  de- 
clares that  he  will  not  make  their  neglect  of  sacrifices  any  part 
of  his  charge  against  them,  by  reason  that  this  is  a  mode  of 
worship,  which,  in  itself,  is  not  required  by  Him,  notwithstanding 
the  precepts  regulating-  the  manner  of  it  which  are  found  in  the 
Levitical  code.  Then  he  proceeds  to  mention  a  mode  of  worship 
which  is  more  agreeable  to  his  nature  and  attributes,  and  which, 
therefore,  he  does  absolutely  require  :  "  Offer,"  he  says,  "  unto 
God  thanksgiving,  and  pay  thy  vows  unto  the  Most  High  ;  and  call 
upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble:  I  willdeliver  thee,  and  thou  shalt 
glorify  me."    It  is  true  that  the  form  of  worship,  being  that  of 


THE  LEV1TICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


231 


prayer  and  thanksgiving,  which  he  here  commands,  may  be  so 
performed  as  to  be  not  more  agreeable  to  the  Lord  than  that  of 
sacrifices  :  nevertheless,  it  is  not,  in  itself,  actually  disagreeable 
to  Him,  and  such  as  he  can  only  tolerate  by  permission,  but 
cannot  actually  desire  and  absolutely  command,  as  is  the  case 
with  sacrifices.  He  absolutely  commands  the  worship  of  prayer 
and  thanksgiving,  because,  though  this  is  only  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  internal  worship,  it  is  an  expression  which  internal 
worship,  wherever  it  really  exists,  will,  at  suitable  seasons,  natu- 
rally and  spontaneously  assume  ;  which  is  not  the  case  with  the 
worship  of  sacrifices,  between  which,  and  the  worship  of  the 
heart,  there  is  no  natural  and  necessary,  but  only  an  arbitrary 
and  conventional  connexion. 

Thus  far,  however,  we  have  not  come  to  any  such  statement  as 
we  are  led  to  expect,  when  the  Lord  begins  this  remonstrance  with 
his  people  by  stating  what  He  will  not  reprove  them  about.  Thus 
far  He  has  only  declared  that  he  will  not  reprove  them  for  their 
careless  performance  of  sacrificial  worship,  has  given  reasons  why 
sacrifices  can  never,  under  any  circumstances,  be  actually  desired 
by  Him,  and  has  mentioned  a  species  of  worship  more  acceptable 
to  his  nature :  but  He  has  not  stated  what  the  offences  are  for 
which  He  is  constrained  to  utter  the  language  of  reprehension. 
This  He  does  in  the  verses  which  follow  those  which  I  have  read 
as  the  text :  "But  unto  the  wicked,  God  saith,  What  hast  thou  to 
do  to  declare  my  statutes,  or  that  thou  shouldst  take  my  cove- 
nant into  thy  mouth  ;  seeing  thou  hatest  instruction,  and  castest 
my  words  behind  thee  ?  When  thou  sawest  a  thief,  then  thou 
consentedst  with  him,  and  has  been  partaker  with  adulterers. 
Thou  givest  thy  mouth  to  evil,  and  thy  tongue  frameth  deceit. 
Thou  sittest  and  speakest  against  thy  brother,  and  slanderest 
thine  own  mother's  son."  Thus  the  evils  of  theft,  adultery, 
lying,  and  false  witness,  being  all  offences  against  charity  and 
breaches  of  the  decalogue,  are  selected  as  specimens  of  the 
evils  which  the  Lord,  or  his  Divine  Truth,  reprehends.  On  ac- 
count of  these,  He  says,  in  the  next  verse,  "I  will  reprove  thee, 
and  set  them  in  order  before  thine  eyes."  But  for  neglect  of  the 
sacrifices,  he  had  before  said,  using  the  very  same  language,  "  I 
will  not  reprove  thee:"  most  plainly  showing  that  the  things 


232 


LECTURE  XV. 


which  he  really  condemns  are  those  which  are  forbidden  in  the 
decalogue,  but  that  sacrifices  were  never  instituted  as  being 
agreeable  to  his  will. 

Some,  perhaps,  are  by  this  time  ready  to  ask,  "  How  does  all 
this  illustrate  the  subject  of  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ."  In 
this  way.  If  the  sacrifices,  on  account  of  the  degree  of  barbarity 
which  attended  them,  were  in  themselves  actually  disagreeable  to 
the  Lord  ; — if  they  are  so  constantly  undervalued  when  spoken 
of  even  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  folly  of  depending  upon 
them  for  salvation  is  so  continually  and  forcibly  exposed  ;  we  see 
how  impossible  it  is  that  they  could  be  prescribed  to  shadow 
forth  the  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the 
manner  in  which  that  sacrifice  is  usually  understood.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  suffered  as  a  victim  for  the  sins 
of  mankind  transferred  to  his  guiltless  head  by  imputation,  to 
satisfy  the  justice  and  appease  the  wrath  of  his  offended  Father: 
thus  that  his  sufferings  and  death  were  literally  a  punishment 
sustained  by  him  instead  of  those  who  are  saved  by  faith  in  this 
sacrifice,  who,  otherwise,  must  have  suffered  the  punishment  of 
their  own  sins  in  death  and  misery  eternal.  But  if  this  were  the 
case, — if  animals  were  slain  in  sacrifice  to  represent  the  death 
and  sufferings  of  Jesus  Christ  undergone  as  the  punishment  of 
man's  sins  transferred  to  Him  ;  could  it  be  possible  for  the  in- 
spired writers  to  speak  so  depreciatingly,  in  the  name  of  Jehovah 
of  those  sacrifices^?  Those  sacrifices  conveyed,  it  is  supposed, 
the  only  knowledge  then  revealed  respecting  the  future  sacrifice 
of  Jesus  Christ ;  whose  coming  as  a  Redeemer,  a  Mighty  Deli- 
verer, is,  indeed,  often  foretold,  from  the  prediction  of  Him  as  the 
Bruiser  of  the  serpent's  head  immediately  after  the  fall  [Gen.  iii. 
15],  to  the  announcement  by  Malachi  [ch.  iii.  1.  3,]  of  his  sud- 
denly coming  to  his  temple,  to  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of 
silver:  and  the  idea  of  Him  most  commonly  presented  is  that  of 
a  Mighty  Conqueror  and  a  resistless  Vindicator  of  his  people  :  if 
then  the  animal  sacrifices  were  the  chief  appointed  means  for 
keeping  alive  a  knowledge  of  the  sacrifice  which  He  was  to  become 
himself,  according  to  the  idea  of  it  just  stated,  how  is  it  that  they 
are  so  continually  depreciated  as  worthless  ?  It  is  true  that  they 
who  think  the  animal  sacrifices  were  representative  of  the  sacri- 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C 


233 


lice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  taking  upon  Him  the  punish- 
ment due  to  the  sins  of  men,  are  also  of  opinion  that  they  only- 
had  efficacy  through  faith  in  that  sacrifice  :  but  if  so,  how  is  it, 
when  the  value  of  sacrifices  in  themselves  is  depreciated  as 
worthless,  that  their  absolute  inefficacy  is  insisted  on,  and  no 
hint  is  ever  given  that  the  case  would  be  different  if  they  were 
connected  with  faith  in  a  greater  sacrifice  to  come, — no  allusion 
is  made  to  any  other  sacrifice  whatever  ?  How  is  it,  also,  that, 
when  the  uselessness  of  sacrifices  is  dwelt  upon,  the  only  thing 
put  in  contrast  with  them,  as  capable  of  rendering  man  agreea- 
ble to  the  Lord,  is,  not  faith  in  another  sacrifice,  but  a  life  of 
goodness  in  conformity  with  the  divine  commandments  ?  Thus, 
when  Isaiah,  in  a  passage  already  quoted,  represents  the  Lord  as 
expressing  disgust  at  the  abundant  sacrifices  of  the  Jews  of  that 
day,  and  as  asking  [ch.  i.  12],  "Who  hath  required  this  at  your 
hand,  to  tread  my  courts?"  he  follows  it  up  with  saying  [ver.  16], 
"  Wash  you  ;  make  you  clean  ;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings 
from  before  mine  eyes  ;  cease  to  do  evil ;  learn  to  do  well :"  in 
which  case  he  adds  [ver.  18],  "though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 
they  shall  be  white  as  snow  ;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson, 
they  shall  be  as  wool."  So  when  David  says,  when  mourning 
for  his  crimes  [Ps.  li.  16],  "Thou  desirest  not  sacrifice;  else 
would  I  give  it :"  he  adds  [ver.  17],  "  The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a 
broken  spirit :  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt 
not  despise."  «And  this  is  continually  the  order  of  discourse 
upon  the  subject  in  the  inspired  writers  :  whenever  they  speak  of 
the  uselessness  of  animal  sacrifices,  they  add  exhortations  to  a 
more  efficacious  worship,  and  urge  the  necessity  of  a  life  of  cha- 
rity and  obedience.  All  which  would  be  utterly  unaccountable 
if  the  object  of  sacrifices  was,  to  shadow  out  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  regarded  as  an  offering  to  appease  of- 
fended Divine  vengeance,  and  as  a  punishment  undergone  by 
substitution  for  the  sins  of  mankind. '  Although  then  it  is  true, 
when  rightly  understood,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  a  sacri- 
fice in  submitting  to  death  for  the  completion  of  the  work  of  hu- 
man redemption,  yet  it  evidently  must  be  in  a  very  different  way 
from  what  is  commonly  conceived.  If  his  sufferings  and  death 
were  a  sacrifice  to  satisfy  offended  justice,  by  undergoing  the 


234 


LECTURE  XV. 


penalty  due  to  sin  in  his  own  person  that  it  might  not  fall  on 
the  true  culprits  ;  and  if  this  was  represented  by  the  sacrifices  of 
the  Levitical  law,  and  was  known  to  be  so  by  those  who  offered 
those  sacrifices  ;  then  it  would  be  impossible  that  ever  those  sa- 
crifices should  be  depreciated  as  useless,  and  as  being,  by  them- 
selves, an  absolute  abomination  to  the  Lord  ;  and  it  would  be 
more  impossible  still,  that  obedience  to  the  moral  law  should  be 
continually  put  in  contrast  with  the  worship  of  sacrifices,  and  in 
sisted  on  as  that,  by  which  alone  man  can  hope  for  acceptance 
with  God.  What  modern  teacher  of  what  are  mistakenly  called 
evangelical  sentiments,  would  think  of  extolling  obedience  to  the 
commandments  as  infinitely  more  valuable  in  the  sight  of  God 
than  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ?  And  yet  this  is  done  per- 
petually by  the  Lord  himself,  speaking  in  his  own  person  by  the 
prophets,  if  the  sacrifices  of  animals  represented  that  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  manner  commonly  understood. 

II.  We  considered  in  our  last  some  of  the  circumstances  of 
the  Levitical  sacrifices  ;  and  I  will  now  proceed  to  notice  a  few 
other  of  the  principal  particulars  directed  to  be  observed  in  their 
actual  performance,  and  will  compare  some  of  them  with  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  crucifixion  of  the  Saviour.  All  have  an 
important  spiritual  signification ;  and  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  so 
impossible  to  apply  them  to  the  circumstances  of  the  death  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  on  the  cross,  that,  the  further  the  import  of 
the  various  particulars  is  investigated,  the  m*e  shall  we  be 
constrained  to  wonder  how  it  ever  came  to  be  imagined,  that 
their  grand  and  whole  design  was,  to  shadow  out  the  death 
by  crucifixion  of  our  Gracious  Redeemer*,  as  a  substituted  pu- 
nishment for  the  sins  of  mankind. 

The  first  thing  directed  to  be  done  on  bringing  a  burnt-offering 
or  any  other  animal  sacrifice,  was,  that  the  offerer  "  should  put  his 
hand  upon  its  head"  [Lev.  i.  4,  &c.].  We  noticed  in  our  last,  that 
this  action  is  supposed  to  imply  the  representative  transfer  of  his 
guilt  from  himself  to  the  victim  ;  whereas,  in  reality,  no  confession 
of  sins  ever  accompanied  this  ceremony,  and  no  representative 
transfer  of  guilt  was  effected,  except  in  the  case  of  the  scape-goat, 
which  was  thereby  made  unclean,  abominable,  and  therefore  inca- 
pable of  being  sacrificed.  Every  animal  that  was  sacrificed  repre- 


THE   LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


235 


sented  some  good  affection  of  innocence  or  charity,  from  which 
man  can  offer  an  acceptable  worship  to  the  Lord  :  and  the  offerer's 
putting  his  hand  upon  the  head  of  the  animal  denoted,  that  he  wor- 
shipped the  Lord  from  such  affection  as  proceeding  from  his  own 
heart,  and  with  all  the  power  he  possessed,  for  of  this  the  hand  is  an 
emblem ;  in  other  words,  that,  according  to  the  divine  precept, 
he  thereby  worshipped  the  Lord  "with  all  his  heart,  and  with  all 
his  soul,  and  with  all  his  might," — that  the  adoration  and  love 
with  which  he  elevated  his  mind  to  the  Lord,  he  offered,  though 
with  the  acknowledgment  that  all  is  from  the  Lord,  from  and 
for  himself,  and  that  is  was  not  done  from  and  by  any  other  being 
for  him.  Thus  the  action  of  putting  his  hand  on  the  head  of  his 
offering,  instead  of  representing,  in  any  way,  the  substitution  of 
one  being  for  another,  represents,  in  reality,  the  very  reverse. 

The  next  thing  directed  is  [Lev.  i.  5],  that  the  person  bringing 
the  sacrifice,  "  shall  kill  the  bullock  [or  other  animal]  before  the 
Lord."  The  use  of  the  word  kill  here,  with  the  fact  that  every 
animal  offered  in  sacrifice  was  necessarily  put  to  death,  is  sup- 
posed greatly  to  support  the  idea,  that  punishment  was  hereby 
signified,  so  that  the  killing  of  the  animal  was  a  representation 
of  the  punishment — the  privation  of  life  eternal — due  for  his  sins 
to  him  who  offered  it.  But  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  word 
[shachat]  here  used  in  the  original,  is  not  one  which  properly  sig- 
nifies killing  in  general;  but  simply  slaughtering  for  food ;  and  it 
is  only  metaphorically,  and  in  very  few  instances,  that  the  word 
is  ever  used  to  signify  killing  in  general.  The  proper  meaning 
of  the  word  is,  to  divest  the  animal  of  its  blood,  so  as  to  make  it 
fit  to  be  used  for  food ;  hence  the  idea  intended  to  be  suggested 
is  not  that  of  ■putting  to  death,  or  destroying,  but  simply  that  of 
preparing  for  food.  The  word  [zabacK]  also,  commonly  and  truly 
translated  to  sacrifice,  always  includes  the  idea  of  preparing  for 
food.  It  is  true  that,  to  prepare  an  animal  for  food,  he  must  be 
put  to  death  ;  but  still  the  idea  in  view  is,  not  that  of  putting  to 
death,  but  that  of  making  ready  as  meat. 

It  is  a  most  "important  fact,  essential  to  the  forming  of  any 
just  conception  of  the  true  import  of  the  worship  bv  sacrifices, 
that  they  are  always  considered  as  food  offered  to  the  Lord. 
This  is  acknowledged  by  the  commentators;  and  this  is  the 


236 


LECTURE  XV. 


reason  that  the  sacrifices  consisted,  not  only  of  animals,  but  also 
of  floux  and  cakes  prepared  with  oil,  of  corn  beaten  out  of  the 
ear,  and  of  wine.  On  this  account,  and  because  all  food  is  called 
in  Scripture  by  the  general  term  bread — bread  not  only  signify- 
ing, in  Scripture  language,  the  food  prepared  from  grain,  but 
answering,  besides,  to  our  word,  food,  in  all  its  extent  of  mean- 
ing,— the  sacrifices  are  perpetually  called  in  Scripture  the  bread 
of  God.  Thus  it  is  over  and  over  said  in  the  21st  chapter  of  the 
book  of  Leviticus,  as  a  reason  why  the  priests  should  not  defile 
themselves,  and  that  no  son  of  Aaron  having  any  imperfection 
should  minister  as  a  priest,  that  they  "offer  the  bread  of  their  God." 
In  treating  of  the  peace-offering,  our  translators  have  called  it 
the  Lord's  "food:"  we  read  (ch.  iii.  11),  "  And  the  priests  shall 
burn  it  upon  the  altar  ;  it  is  the  food  of  the  offering  made  by  fire 
unto  the  Lord."  In  Ezekiel  (xliv.  7),  the  fat  and  the  blood  are 
expressly  named  the  Lord's  bread.  Reproving  the  Israelites, 
the  Lord  says  by  that  prophet, — "Ye  have  brought  strangers, 
uncircumcised  in  heart  and  uncircumcised  in  flesh,  to  be  in  my 
sanctuary,  to  pollute  it,  even  my  house,  when  ye  offer  my  bread, 
the  fat  and  the  blood."  Because  the  priests,  in  the  time  of  Ma- 
lachi,  were  in  the  habit  of  offering  blind,  lame,  and  deceased 
animals  in  sacrifice,  the  Lord  reproaches  them  by  the  prophet 
[ch.  i.  7],  saying,  "Ye  offer  polluted  bread  upon  mine  altar."  In 
short,  the  altar  was  regarded  as  the  Lord's  table,  and  is  expressly 
called  so,  and  the  sacrifices  offered  upon  it  were  regarded  as  his 
food.  Thus-  the  passage  just  quoted  proceeds  thus  :  "  And  ye 
say,  Wherein  have  we  polluted  thee  ?"  To  which  it  is  answered, 
"  In  that  ye  say,  The  table  of  the  Lord  is  contemptible."  And 
then  mention  is  made  of  their  offering  imperfect  animals  for 
sacrifice.  So  it  is  said  a  little  after  [ver.  12],  respecting  the 
Lord's  name,  "  Ye  have  profaned  it,  in  that  ye  say,  The  table  of 
the  Lord  is  polluted,  and  the  fruit  thereof,  even  his  meat  [so  our 
translators  give  it  here],  is  contemptible." 

It  is  quite  certain  then,  that,  under  the  Levitical  code,  the 
altar  was  considered  as  the  Lord's  table,  and  the  sacrifices  offered 
upon  it  as  his  food  or  meat:  consequently,  the  killing  of  the 
animal  to  be  offered  cannot  be  intended  to  express  its  punish- 
ment, or  the  punishment  of  any  other  being,  as  a  substitute  for 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


237 


the  offerer,  but  simply,  the  preparation  of  the  animal  to  serve  as 
food.  When  animals  are  slaughtered  for  food,  no  one  thinks  of 
their  death  as  a  punishment ;  and  though  their  undergoing  suf- 
fering in  the  operation  is  unavoidable,  yet  this  is  in  no  respect 
the  end  intended  :  a  humane  person  makes  the  suffering  as  slight 
as  possible,  and,  could  it  be  avoided  altogether,  that  would  be 
preferred  by  all.  A  comparison  of  the  animal-offerings  with 
sacrifices  of  other  kinds  will  show,  that,  in  the  offering  of  the 
former,  no  reference  was  made  to  its  death.  I'hus  when  cakes 
were  to  be  presented  for  a  meat  offering,  corn  must  first  have 
been  ground  into  flour  to  make  them,  and  they  were  ordered 
[Lev.  ii.  4],  to  be  "baken  in  the  oven;"  and  when  a  meat- 
offering of  the-  first  fruits  was  to  be  made,  it  was  directed  [chap, 
ii.  14],  that  it  should  consist  of  "green  ears  of  corn  dried  by 
the  fire,  even  corn  beaten  out  of  full  ears."  Here,  the  grinding 
of  the  flour  and  baking  of  the  cakes,  to  form  a  meat-offering  of 
cakes,  and  the  drying  of  the  corn  and  beating  it  out  of  the  ear, 
for  a  meat-offering  of  first  fruits,  were  operations  occupying  the 
same  place  in  sacrifices  of  that  sort,  as  the  killing  did  in  sacri- 
fices of  animals :  they  were  the  necessary  preparation  of  them 
for  food  of  that  kind,  before  they  could  be  burnt  upon  the  altar ; 
as  the  slaying  was  the  necessary  preparation  of  the  animal  before 
that  could  be  made  fit  for  food.  And  there  was  no  more  idea 
of  suffering,  or  even  of  death,  intended  to  be  conveyed  in  the 
slaughtering  of  the  beast,  than  there  was  in  the  baking  of  the 
cake,  in  the  previous  grinding  of  the  flour,  and  in  the  drying 
and  threshing  of  the  corn.  Consequently,  there  was  no  more 
reference  intended  to  the  undergoing  of  punishment  by  substi- 
tution, in  the  one  case,  than  there  was  in  the  others. 

As  it  is  so  evident,  that,  in  the  slaying  of  the  animal  sacrifices, 
there  was  no  allusion  to  vicarious  punishment,  it  is  plain  that 
there  could  be  no  reference  to  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  considered  as  the  suffering,  by  substitution,  of  the 
punishment  due  to  the  sins  of  mankind.  But  whoever  looks  at 
the  widely  different  circumstances  of  the  two  cases,  will  indeed 
wonder  how,  in  the  death  of  the  animal,  theologians  could  dis- 
cern the  death  by  crucifixion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  animal  was  slaughtered,  by  him  who  offered  him,  before 


238 


LECTURE  XV. 


the  Lord,  as  the  supreme  act  of  humble  devotion  :  Was  the 
death  of  Jesus  an  act  of  worship  on  the  part  of  those  who  nailed 
him  to  the  cross  ? — The  animal  thus  slaughtered  was  accepted 
for  the  offerer,  "to  make  atonement  for  him:"  Did  the  chief 
priests  and  Pharisees  actually  make  atonement  for  themselves  by 
crucifying  the  Lord  ?  Was  this  what  they  meant  when  they 
exclaimed,  to  appease  the  conscience  of  the  Roman  governor 
[Matt,  xxvii.  2-5],  "His  blood  be  on  us,  and  on  our  children?" — 
The  offerers  of  sacrifices  repeated  them  occasionally,  which 
expressed  permanence  or  advancement  in  the  state  of  devoted 
piety  represented  by  the  act :  Would  it  therefore  be  a  mark  of 
permanence  or  advancement  in  piety  to  crucify  the  Lord  afresh  ? 
Are  those  who  are  steadily  advancing  in  piety  thereby  perpetually 
crucifying  the  Lord  over  again  ?  How  does  this  idea  agree  with 
the  declaration  of  the  Apostle  in  Heb.  vi.  6,  that,  not  they  who 
advance  in  piety,  but  they  "who  draw  back  unto  perdition," 
"crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh?" — The  animal 
was  sacrificed  "at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congrega- 
tion, before  the  Lord  :"  Was  Jesus  sacrificed  (as  they  call  it)  in 
the  same  situation  ?  Was  calvary — the  place  of  a  skull, — where 
malefactors  were  executed,  and  all  sorts  of  abominations  existed, 
a  place  equally  holy,  and  proper  for  the  performance  of  sacri- 
fices, as  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  or  temple  ?  And  suppose  it 
had  been — suppose,  even,  that  the  Lord  had  been  crucified  where 
Zacharias,  the  son  of  Barachias  [Matt,  xxiii.  37],  was  murdered 
— in  the  space  between  the  temple  and  the  altar ;  what  sort  of 
acceptance  could  have  attended  such  a  sacrifice  ?  Was  not  the 
offering  of  human  sacrifices  the  greatest  abomination  that  could 
be  practised,  and  one  of -those  for  which,  as  the  Lord  tells  the 
Israelites,  their  predecessors  in  the  land  of  Canaan  were  de- 
stroyed;  and,  as  he  declares  [Lev.  xviii.  21,  25],  "the  land  is 
*  defiled  :  therefore  do  I  visit  the  iniquity  thereof  upon  it,  and  the 
land  itself  vomiteth  out  her  inhabitants?"  In  short,  no  inge- 
nuity whatever,  that  I  can  conceive  of,  can  find  any  sort  of 
parallelism  between  the  sacrificing  of  an  animal  on  the  altar 
before  the  tabernacle  as  an  act  of  humble  worship  and  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  Lord  as  the  author  of  the  good  represented, 
and  the  crucifying  of  the  Lord  himself  without  the  city,  which 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


239 


was  an  act  in  the  perpetrators  of  the  most  desperate  cruelty, 
blasphemous  hatred,  and  determined  rejection. 

Thus  it  appears  abundantly  evident,  that,  when  the  particulars 
observed  in  the  offering  of  sacrifices  are  considered,  either  by 
themselves,  or  in  comparison  with  the  circumstances  attending 
the  death  on  the  cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  notion 
that  they  prefigured  that  event,  regarded  as  a  suffering  of  the 
punishment  due  to  the  sins  of  mankind,  falls  completely  to  the 
ground. 

III.  To  revert,  then,  to  the  True  Nature  of  the  Sacrifice  of 
Jesus  Christ:  It  remains  that,  as  shown  in  our  last  Lecture,  the 
way  in  which  the  sacrifices  of  the  Levitical  law  represented  this 
sacrifice,  is  just  the  same  as  that  in  which  they  represented  the 
sacrifice  of  every  individual  man, — every  follower  and  disciple  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  becomes  regenerate.  The  Lord 
continually  commands  his  disciples  in  the  gospel,  to  take  up 
their  cross  and  follow  Him.  He  also  tells  those  who  are  willing 
to  follow  him  without  reserve,  as  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee  pro- 
fessed to  be  [Matt.  xx.  22,  23],  that  they  must  drink  of  the  cup 
which  he  drank  of,  and  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  He 
was  baptized  withal:  plainly  teaching,  that  the  progress  of  the 
Christian  in  the  regenerate  or  spiritual  fife,  is  to  be  an  exact 
copy  of  his  Lord's  progress  in  the  work  of  the  glorification  of  his 
Humanity.  As  He,  as  to  his  Humanity,  underwent  a  process  of 
glorification,  whereby  his  Humanity  itself  was  rendered  Divine 
by  perfect  union  with  the  Divinity  of  the  Father,  so  man  is 
to  undergo  a  process  of  regeneration,  whereby  he  is  to  be  ren- 
dered spiritual,  and  attain  a  subordinate  kind  of  union  with  the 
divine  Humanity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  process  is 
commonly  called,  by  theologians,  sanctification ;  which  term  is 
justified  by  the  use  of  it  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "  For  their 
sakes,"  says  He  [John  xvii.  19],  "  I  sanctify  myself;  that  they 
also  may  be  sanctified  through  the  truth  :"  intimating,  that  in 
consequence  of  his  undergoing  a  process  of  divine  sanctification, 
which,  for  the  sake  of  distinction,  it  is  as  well  to  call  glorification, 
(which  term,  also,  is  more  frequently  used  by  himself),  his  fol- 
lowers should  undergo  a  process  of  spiritual  sanctification,  which 
is  conveniently  expressed  by  the  term  regeneration,  through  the 


240 


LECTURE  XV. 


operating  upon  them  of  the  Spirit  of  truth  communicated  from 
his  glorified  Humanity.  Thus  the  glorification  of  his  Humanity 
was  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  the  regeneration  of  man. 
From  no  other  source  could  the  power  be  communicated,  neces- 
sary to  raise  man  from  the  fallen  state  into  which  he  is  sunk 
to  a  state  of  spiritual  life,  but  from  the  Glorified  Humanity,  the 
Divine  Person,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Most  truly  therefore 
did  he  say,  "For  their  sakes," — for  the  sake  of  mankind,  and 
especially  of  those  who  become  his  disciples, — "  For  their. sakes 
I  sanctify  myself,  that  they  also  might  be  sanctified  through  the 
truth."  In  the  very  same  sense  he  says  elsewhere  [John  xiv. 
19],  "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also;"  all  the  spiritual  life  of 
man  being  derived  solely  from  his  glorified  Humanity,  which 
lives  by  a  life  purely  divine,  in  consequence  of  its  perfect  union 
with  the  Essential  Divinity. 

The  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic  law,  viewed  in  their  whole  series 
or  as  to  all  their  particulars,  represent,  in  their  supreme  sense, 
the  whole  of  the  process  by  which  the  Lord  glorified  his  Hu- 
manity, or  rendered  it  divine,  by  exalting  it  to  perfect  union 
with  the  Divinity  of  the  Father :  and  hence  also,  since  the 
regeneration  of  man  is  an  image  of  the  glorification  of  the  Lord, 
the  sacrifices,  in  their  whole  series  and  all  their  particulars,  no 
less  truly  and  exactly  image  the  regeneration  of  man.  Hence 
(to  advert  once  more  to  a  passage  quoted  in  our  last)  man,  when 
truly  regenerate,  is  called  by  the  Apostle  Paul  a  living  sacrifice  : 
and  he  is  a  sacrifice  precisely  in  the  same  sense  as  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  was.  As  a  man  is  not,  when  regenerated,  a  sacrifice 
to  the  wrath  of  God,  a  victim  to  appease  the  Divine  Vengeance, 
— a  subject  of  horrible  sufferings  to  satisfy  the  Divine  J ustice  ; 
so  neither  was  the  Lord.  Jesus  Christ.  I  must  recite  the  Apostle's 
words  a  little  more  at  length  thanp  did[before  [Roman  xii.  1,  2]  : 
« I  beseech  you  brethren,  by  the  mercies|of  God,  that  ye  present 
your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God  ;  which 
is  your  reasonable  service  :  and  be  ye  not  conformed  to  the 
image  of  the  world,  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of 
your  mind."  Never  does  he  speak  more  explicitly  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  being  a  sacrifice.  By  presenting  our  bodies  a' 
living  sacrifice,  he  means,  the  whole  man  ;  as  appears  from  his 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C 


241 


explaining  how  this  is  to  be  done,  namely,  by  the'renewing  of 
our  mind.  It  is  remarkable,  also,  that  he  here^makes  a  designed 
allusion  to  the  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic  law.  He  calls  the  pre- 
senting of  our  bodies,  or  of  ourselves,  as  a  living  sacrifice,  "our 
reasonable  service  :"  where  the  word  translated  service  is  that 
which  is  always  employed  to  express  the^service  or  worship  per- 
formed in  the  tabernacle  or  temple,  and  which  consisted  princi- 
pally of  animal  sacrifices.  This  presenting  of  ourselves  as  a 
sacrifice  unto  God,  he  calls,  "our  reasonable  service  ;"  where  the 
word  reasonable  is  not  employed  in  the  sense  which  it  now  com- 
monly bears,  as  if  he  meant  to  say,  it  is  reasonable,  or  right  and 
equitable,  that  we  should  do  this, — though  this  also  is*irue  ;  but 
he  employs  the  word  reasonable  as  the  opposite  of  carnal  or 
material, — as  implying  what  is  of  the  mind  and  understanding, 
and  thus  also  of  the  affections,  instead  of  being  the  mere  offering 
of  some  dead  substance, — some  material  object, — as  were  the 
literal  sacrifices  of  animals.  He  means  to  say,  that  by  thus 
offering  ourselves  as  a  living  sacrifice  unto  God,  we  p'erform  a 
service  or  worship  in  which  the  mind  is  everything — a  mental 
and  rational  service, — instead  of  a  service  which  consisted  in 
carnal  ordinances  alone, — of  offerings  of  external  objects,  not 
immediately  connected  with,  much  less  constituting  part  of,  the 
mind  of  the  worshipper. 

This  mental  worship  then, — this  worship^of  the  heart,  mind, 
and  purified  affections, — was,  as  we  have  seen,  represented  by 
the  worship  of  sacrifices  as  regulated  by  the  Levitical  law.  The 
animals  offered  were  all  such  as  represented,  and  are  forms  in 
nature  corresponding  to,  those  affections  and  perceptions  of  the 
will  and  understanding  which  alone  can  be*  acceptable  to  the 
Lord, — affections  of  innocence,  represented  by  the  lamb,  of 
charity,  imaged  by  the  sheep,  of  natural  good,  or  justice  and 
equity,  typified  by  the  bullock  ;  with  faith,  of  which  the  emblem 
was  the  goat.  The  different  kinds  of  sacrifices, — which,  however, 
always  consisted  of  these  animals,  with  the  addition,  from  among 
birds,  of  turtle-doves  and  pigeons,  as  types  of  purification  ; — 
represented  the  worship  of  man  under  all  the  varying  circum- 
stances of  his  regenerative  process,  in  which  affections  of  good  and 
perceptions  of  truth  are  continually  received  by  him  from  the 
16 


242 


LECTURE  XV. 


Lord,  and,  his  own  evils,  everything  from  his  own  self-hood  that 
would  defile  them,  being  rejected  and  separated,  are  offered  to 
the  Lord  in  worship,  in  the  devout  acknowledgment  that  they 
all  are  his  alone, — are  of  Him  in  man, — and  still  belong  truly 
to  their  Divine  Original,  and  not  to  man  himself.  When  the 
whole  man  thus  worships  the  Lord,  being  a  recipient  of  good  from 
Him  through  all  the  powers  of  his  frame,  which  he  gratefully 
ascribes  to  Him  its  source,  he  is  himself  what  the  Apostle  calls 
a  living  sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable  unto  God.  It  was  by  a 
process  of  this  kind  in  the  Supreme  Degree  that  the  Lord  ren- 
dered his  Humanity  Divine,  and  perfectly  united  it  to  the 
Divinity  *f  the  Father ;  and  it  is  by  a  process  imitative  of  the 
one  thus  passed  through  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  man 
becomes  spiritual,  and  attains  conjunction  with  the  Lord's  Divine 
Humanity,  whence  he  derives  heavenly  blessings  throughout 
eternity. 

We  have  now,  I  trust,  accomplished  what  was  proposed  in  the 
three  divisions  of  this  Lecture.  We  have  seen  that  the  remark- 
able passage  which  I  have  read  as  a  text,  in  common  with 
numerous  similar  statements  of  Holy  Writ,  strikingly  declares 
the  non-acceptableness  of  the  worship  by  sacrifices,  either  re- 
garded by  themselves,  or  if  supposed  to  shadow  forth  the  sacri- 
fice of  a  superior,  a  more  than  human,  even  a  Divine  Being,  as 
a  substituted  victim  for  the  sins  of  mankind  ;  and  demonstrates 
that  such  an  inlerpretation  of  them  cannot  be  the  true  one. 
We  have  seen,  also,  on  considering  some  of  the  chief  particulars 
directed  to  be  observed  in  the  performance  of  sacrifices,  and 
comparing  them  with  the  circumstances  attending  the  crucifixion 
of  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  that  although,  when  regulated  in  a 
manner  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  divine  order  in  their  ultimate 
form,  and  according  to  the  correspondence  between  natural 
objects  and  spiritual  essences  which  exists  by  creation,  as  was 
secured  by  the  Levitical  enactments,  the  worship  by  sacrifices 
was  capable  of  being  made  exactly  representative  of  true  internal 
worship,  and  thus  of  effecting,  in  a  certain  wonderful  manner,  a 
communication  with  Heaven,  that  might  conduce  to  the  spiritual 
benefit  of  the  sincere  worshipper,  there  was  nothing  in  them  to 
indicate,  or  that  was  compatible  with  the  idea,  that  their  grand 


THE  LEVITICAL  SACRIFICES,  &C. 


243 


design  was  to  shadow  out  the  crucifixion  of  the  Redeemer,  as  a 
vicarious  punishment  for  the  sins  of  mankind.  The  worship  by 
sacrifices,  we  have  seen,  though  capable  of  representing  true 
internal  worship,  and  of  promoting  something  approaching  to  it 
amongst  a  carnal  people,  and  therefore  tolerated  by  the  Lord, 
was  so  far,  in  and  by  itself,  from  being  agreeable  to  Him,  as  to 
be  actually  displeasing,  because  inseparably  connected  with  suf- 
fering in  the  victim ;  and  suffering  in  any  shape,  though  much 
of  it  exists  unavoidably  in  a  world  where  sin  has  entered  and 
established  so  general  an  empire,  is  not  agreeable,  but  hateful, 
to  Him  who  is  benignity  and  goodness  itself,  even  when  inflicted 
on  an  irrational  animal.  As,  from  this  cause,  animal  sacrifices, 
though  capable  of  being  so  performed  as  most  accurately  to 
represent  pure  internal  worship,  were  not  in  themselves  pleasing 
to  the  Lord,  so  human  sacrifices,  though  in  idea  they  might 
represent  worship  of  the  highest  possible  order,  consisting  in  the 
surrender  of  the  inmost  life  to  the  Lord, — the  most  absolute  self- 
devotion, — as  in  the  quasi  sacrifice  of  Isaac, — yet  as  involving, 
if  actually  performed,  one  of  the  most  diabolical  of  crimes,  being 
incapable  of  being  practised  without  the  perpetration  of  murder, 
— they  were  the  most  horrible  abominations  that  could  be  com- 
mitted, and  were  in  the  highest  degree  profane,  because  com- 
bining a  representative  of  the  inmost  worship  of  the  Lord  with  a 
most  atrocious  act  of  wickedness.  It  is  most  impossible  then  that 
the  cruel  murder  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  Jews  could  be  intended 
to  be  regarded  as  a  human  sacrifice,  still  less  as  a  divine  sacrifice, 
offered  and  accepted  in  lieu  of  the  perdition  of  mankind.  Thus, 
finally,  are  we  further  enabled  to  see,  how  the  death  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  sacrifice,  and  in  what  its 
efficacy  consisted  ;  not  that  his  sufferings  were  in  any  respect 
pleasing  to  the  Father,  nor  that  He  bore  them  in  the  way  of 
substitution  for  the  sins  of  men  :  but  because  his  Humanity  was 
hereby  totally  dedicated  and  devoted  to  his  Divinity,  all  the  fife 
of  the  merely  human  nature, — of  all  that  belonged  to  Him  as 
the  Son  of  Mary, — being  extinguished,  so  as  to  admit  of  the  de- 
scent of  the  divine  life  into  the  Humanity  also,  even  to  its  ulti- 
mate corporeal  elements,  abolishing  everything  that  could  not  bear 
the  presence  of  the  "consuming  fire"  [Deut.  iv.  24,  Rev.  i.  15], 


244 


LECTURE  XV. 


thus  everything  material,  and  substituting  divine  substantiality 
in  its  place ;  whence  He  rose  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  to 
the  most  absolute  union  with  the  Father  or  Inmost  Divinity, 
to  operate  thence,  from  his  Humanity  thus  itself  Divine,  the 
graces  of  salvation  in  those  who  look  to  Him,  and  follow  Him. 

Thus  by  the  Levitical  sacrifices,  rescued  from  erroneous  and 
inapplicable  interpretations,  the  true  nature  of  the  Sacrifice  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  greatly  illustrated  ;  and  most  important  practical 
lessons  are  at  the  same  time  conveyed.  Though  not  in  them- 
selves agreeable  to  the  Lord,  on  account  of  the  circumstances  of 
suffering  attending  them,  yet  when  the  idea  of  these  is  removed 
(and  it  is,  as  far  as  possible,  kept  out  of  sight  in  the  ordinances 
on  the  subject),  it  is  easy  to  see,  in  sacrifices  and  from  them, 
what  the  true  worship  of  the  Lord  must  be.  He  can  only  be 
approached  from  good  affections  and  with  pure  thoughts.  Man 
can  have  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  but  by  communication 
from  Him ;  which  communication  has  been  made  possible,  and 
easy,  by  the  grand  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Knowing 
this,  man  must  gratefully  acknowledge  it.  Thus  cultivating 
heavenly  affections,  and  worshipping  the  Lord  from  them,  he 
must  manifest  their  activity  in  his  life  and  conversation.  His 
own  regeneration,  which  is  an  image  of  the  Lord's  glorification, 
will  be  thus  accomplished.  He  will  be  "transformed  by  the 
renewing  of  his  mind"  [Rom.  xii.  2]  ;  he  will  render  continually 
unto  the  Lord  a  "  reasonable,"  or  rational  and  mental  "  service : 
and  will  at  length  be  raised  by  Him,  to  be  "with  Him  where 
He  is,"  and  to  "behold  his  glory."    [John  xvii.  24.] 


LECTURE  XVI. 


SALVATION  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  :  HOW  IT  IS  EFFECTED  *. 
AND  HOW  IT  IS  CONSISTENT  WITH  HIS  ONENESS  WITH  THE 
GODHEAD,  AND  WITH  THE  ATTRIBUTES  OF  INFINITE  LOVE  AND 
WISDOM  AS  FORMING  THE  ESSENTIAL  NATURE  OF  THE  DIVINE 
OBJECT  OF  WORSHIP. 


Rev.  v.  9. 

"  And  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying,  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the 
booJc,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof:  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast 
redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  bhod,  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue, 
and  people,  and  nation." 

We  are  now  in  the  second  branch  of  the  general  division  of 
subjects  of  which  these  lectures  were  to  treat.  The  first  branch 
consisted  of  subjects  relating  to  the  nature  and  person  of  the 
Divine  Object  of  Worship:  the  second  comprises  the  subjects  re- 
lating to  his  great  works  for  accomplishing  the  redemption  and 
salvation  of  mankind.  In  the  course  of  my  former  Lectures  I 
have  endeavoured  to  prove,  that  God,  as  to  his  Essence,  is  Love 
Itself  and  Wisdom  Itself,  and  that  no  attributes  at  variance  with 
these  can  have  any  place  in  his  nature.  As  to  the  Divine  Per- 
son, I  have  endeavoured  to  establish  the  Absolute  Unity  of  the 
Godhead  in  person  as  well  as  in  essence,  the  agreement  therewith 
of  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  the  concentration  of 
the  three  essentials  of  the  Godhead,  called  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit,  in  the  Glorified  Person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  endeavouring  to  obtain  a  favourable  hearing  for  this  sublime 
doctrine,  I  observed  that  it  ought  to  recommend  itself  to  all 
classes  of  the  religious  world,  as  removing  the  difficulties  with 
which  all  the  commonly  prevailing  systems  are  encumbered. 


246 


LECTURE  XVI. 


Trinitarians,  when  they  become  Tripersonalists,  and  divide  the 
divinity  among  three  separate  persons,  each  of  whom,  "by 
himself,"  is  affirmed  to  be  God  and  Lord,  must  be  much  embar- 
rassed with  the  numerous  declarations  of  Scripture  which  affirm 
the  absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Object  of  Worship.  Unitarians, 
when  they  become  what  is  better  expressed  by  the  name  applied 
to  them  by  the  celebrated  Mr.  Coleridge — Psilanthropists, — by 
insisting  on  the  simple  humanity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  are 
much  annoyed  by  the  numerous  passages  of  Scripture,  in  which 
his  divinity  is  directly  asserted,  or  from  which  it  is  obviously  to 
be  inferred.  The  former  have  adopted  their  notion  of  a  triper- 
sonality  for  the  sake  of  preserving,  what  they  see  the  Scriptures 
so  plainly  teach,  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Trinity  in 
the  Divine  nature.  The  latter  have  adopted  their  persuasion  of 
the  simple  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  sake  of  preserving 
what  the  Scriptures  every  where  assert,  the  indivisible  unity  of 
the  Godhead.  Both  parties  then,  so  far  as  they  are  lovers  of 
truth,  should  regard  with  favour  the  view  that  we  offer,  which 
preserves  the  great  object  intended  by  each  without  making  it 
liable  to  the  objections  urged  by  the  other ; — which  maintains  the 
Trinity  without  infringing  the  indivisible  Unity,  and  preserves 
the  Unity  in  combination  with  the  supreme  Divinity  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ : — which  unreservedly  admits  the  testimony  of  the 
One  Eternal  Jehovah  when  he  says,  "  I  am  God,  and  there  is 
none  else  ;"  and  that  of  Jesus  when  he  declares,  "  He  that  hath 
seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father," — when  he  states,  that  the  Father, 
as  the  Divine  Essence,  dwells  with  Him,  and  when  he  shows, 
by  the  significant  action  of  breathing  on  his  disciples,  saying 
at  the  same  time,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  the  Divine  influence  and  operation,  proceeding  from 
Him. 

Now  the  same  discrepancy  which  exists  between  Tripersonal- 
ists and  Unitarians  on  the  subject  of  the  Divine  Person,  exists 
between  them  also  in  regard  to  the  redemption  and  salvation  of 
which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Author.  It  is  the  manner  in 
which  our  redemption  and  salvation  were  effected  by  Him  that 
we  are  considering  in  this  second  branch  of  our  Lectures  ;  in 
which  I  first  treated  of  the  true  nature  of  redemption,  properly 


SALVATION  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


247 


so  called,  as  consisting  in  the  deliverance  of  man,  by  Jehovah  • 
clothed  with  Human  Nature,  from  the  preponderating  power  of 
hell :  and  the  subject  of  our  last  two  Lectures  was,  first,  the  Sa- 
crifice of  Jesus  Christ  ;  in  what  it  consisted  ;  and,  how  it  is  compati- 
ble with  his  Oneness  with  the  Godhead,  and  with  the  attributes  oj 
Infinite  hove  and  Wisdom  as  forming  the  Essential  Nature  of  the 
Divine  Object  of  Worship  ;  and  secondly,  Particulars  relating  to 
.  the  Levitical  Sacrifices  which  illustrate  the  same.  This  evening  I  • 
am  to  consider  the  subject  of  Salvation  by  the  Blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  ;  and  to  inquire  how  it  is  effected,  and  is  consistent  with  the 
same  Attributes  of  the  Divine  Person  and  Nature. 

No  doctrine  is  more  insisted  on  by  Trinitarians  in  general, 
especially  by  those  who  consider  their  sentiments  to  be  peculiarly 
evangelical,  than  this,  of  salvation  by  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ : 
they  contend  that  it  is  solely  by  virtue  of  the  blood,  or  of  the 
sufferings  and  death,  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  salvation  is  attainable: 
for  they  conceive  that,  by  no  other  means,  could  the  wrath  of 
the  Father  be  appeased,  which  had  condemned  all  mankind  to 
misery  eternal.  The  Unitarians  affirm  that  this  is  supposing 
one  God  to  have  died  to  appease  the  wrath  of  another  God ; 
which  is  a  fragrant  violation  of  the  Divine  Unity.  They  also 
contend,  that  this  is  representing  the  Father  as  a  God  of  wrath 
and  vengeance  ;  which  is  assigning  him  attributes  the  opposites 
of  love  and  goodness.  They  consider,  therefore,  that  the  blood, 
or  death  and  sufferings,  of  Jesus  Christ,  had  no  other  effect  in 
promoting  man's  salvation,  than  as  completing  that  example  of 
perfect  obedience  and  resignation,  which,  together  with  the 
purity  of  his  moral  precepts,  was,  they  suppose,  the  great  object 
of  his  mission.  Here,  again,  then,  the  doctrines  which  we  offer 
as  those  of  the  True  Christian  Religion  come  between  these  two 
contending  parties.  We  admit  that  the  Unitarian's  representa- 
tion of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
held  by  the  Tripersonalist,  is  but  too  true  ;  that  it  is  indeed  in- 
consistent with  the  absolute  Oneness  of  the  Godhead,  and  with 
the  Essential  Nature  of  a  Deity  whose  first  attribute  is  Love. 
But  our  doctrines  affirm  with  the  Trinitarian,  in  opposition  to  the 
Unitarian,  that  the  blood-shedding,  or  the  death  and  sufferings  of 
Jesus  Christ,  were  of  indispensable  necessity,  if  man  were  to  be 


248 


LECTURE  XVI. 


saved ;  that  though  they  are  distinct  things  from  Redemption, 
Redemption  could  not  have  been  completed  without  them  ;  that, 
in  fact,  there  is,  and  could  be,  no  Salvation,  but  through  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  But,  again,  to  reconcile  this  statement 
to  the  Unitarian,  and  to  the  dictates  of  reason,  we  maintain,  that 
the  doctrine  of  Salvation  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  con- 
tained in  the  Scriptures,  is  in  perfect  agreement  with  the  indi- 
visible Unity  of  the^Godhead, — yea,  with  his  own  supreme  and 
sole  Divinity  ;  and  equally  so  with  the  attribute  of  Infinite  Love, 
as  forming  the  first  essential  in  the  nature  of  Deity. 

In  stating  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  commonly  maintained,  I  have  spoken  of  his  blood  as 
being  mentioned  to  express  his  sufferings  and  death.  I  have 
stated  the  common  doctrine  to  be,  that  it  is  solely  by  virtue  of 
the  blood,  or  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ,  that 
salvation  is  attainable.  This  is  actually  the  manner  in  which 
the  subject  is  generally  understood  :  when  preachers  and  writers 
speak  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  always  mean  by  the 
expression,  his  sufferings  and  death.  I  will  therefore,  in  the 
first  place,  endeavour  to  show,  That  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
Jesus  Christ  were  indispensably  necessary  to  man's  salvation:  and 
in  what  manner  they  were  so ;  not  by  appeasing  the  wrath  of  the 
Father  as  a  separate  Divine  Person,  but  as  needful  to  complete 
the  glorification  of  the  Lord's  Humanity,  or  its  perfect  assimila- 
tion to  the  Divine  Essence,  without  which  the  influences  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  necessary  for  the  conveyance  of  the  gifts  of  salva- 
tion, could  not  have  been  imparted  to  mankind.  I  will  next 
show,  That  by  the  blood  of  the  [Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  a  figurative 
natural  sense,  as  commonly  used  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostles, 
is  meant  his  death,  as  indispensably  necessary  for  the  purposes  just 
mentioned.  I  will  prove,  finally,  That  the  blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  when  spoken  of  by  the  Lord  himself  in  the  gospels,  is  properly 
to  be  understood  in  a  spiritual  manner  ;  and  that  then  it  never  sig- 
nifies his  death  and  sufferings  ;  but  the  communications  of  his  Holy 
Spirit,  proceeding  from  his  Glorified  Humanity,  to  convey  spiritual 
life,  and  thus  salvation,  to  mankind.  From  the  whole  it  will  ap- 
pear, that  the  doctrine  of  Salvation  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ, 
as  actually  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  is  in  perfect  harmony 


SALVATION  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  249 

with  that  of  the  Indivisible  Unity  of  the  Divine  Essence,  and  of 
the  perfect  Oneness  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  Glorified 
Humanity,  with  the  Eternal  Jehovah  ;  and  with  the  Attributes  of 
Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom,  as  forming  the  Essential  Nature  of 
the  Divine  Object  of  Worship. 

I.  First,  then,  I  am  to  show,  That  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
Jesus  Christ  were  indispensably  necessary  to  man's  salvation  ;  and 
in  what  manner  they  were  so. 

The  reason,  why  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  out  of  his  love  to 
mankind,  made  himself  subject  also  to  death,  or  laid  down  his 
life,  was,  because,  first,  He  could  not  otherwise  finish  his  con- 
flicts with  the  infernal  powers,  and  deliver  man  from  their  pre- 
ponderating influence  ;  in  which  deliverance,  as  we  have  seen  in 
two  Lectures  on  the  subject,  the  Redemption  of  man  properly 
consisted  :  because,  secondly,  his  Humanity  could  not  otherwise 
have  been  glorified,  or  completely  assimilated  to  the  Divine  Na- 
ture, so  as  to  become  One  Person  with  his  Essential  Divinity  : 
and  because,  thirdly,  such  a  divine  influence  could  not  else  have 
been  imparted,  as  should  enable  man  to  profit  by  the  Lord's 
work  of  Redemption,  and  attain  salvation.  Hence  also  it  was, 
that  such  cruelties  were  inflicted  on  his  person  :  all  which  were 
spiritually  significative,  at  the  same  time  that  they  literally 
occurred. 

The  cruelties  which  were  inflicted  on  the  person  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  not  only  were  attended  with  dreadful  outward  suf- 
ferings, but  represented  the  inward  conflicts  in  which  He  was  at 
the  same  time  engaged  with  the  infernal  powers,  and  the  ferocity 
and  obstinacy  with  which  these  contended  for  victory,  knowing 
that,  if  they  could  prevail  on  the  relics  of  infirmity,  which  at- 
tached to  the  Redeemer  in  what  he  had  received  from  the 
human  mother,  to  appropriate  their  suggestions,  so  as  actually 
to  fall  under  any  of  their  temptations,  the  glorification  of  his 
Humanity  would  be  rendered  impossible,  and,  of  consequence, 
the  salvation  of  man  would  be  defeated.  The  Apostle  Paul  gives 
very  clear  information  respecting  the  nature  and  design  of  the 
Lord's  sufferings,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Thus  he  states 
[ch.  iv.  15],  that  Jesus  "was  in  all  points  tempted  as  we  are, 
yet  was  without  sin  :"  whence  we  learn,  that  He  had  adhering 


250 


LECTURE  XVI. 


to  Him  the  same  infirmities  of  nature  as  we  have,  derived  from 
the  human  mother ;  these  being  what  afforded  the  ground  by 
which  alone  the  infernals  could  approach  Him  with  temptations. 
They  can  only  act  upon  what  is  admissive  of  their  influence ; 
wherefore,  if  there  were  no  propensities  to  evil  hereditary  in  the 
nature  of  man,  he  could  not  be  liable  to  temptation  from  the  in- 
fernal hosts.  Neither  could  the  Lord  when  in  the  flesh,  had  He 
not  taken  a  nature  from  Mary  which  included  every  propensity 
that  existed  in  her:  for,  as  the  Apostle  says  again  [Heb.  ii.  17], 
"In  all  things  it  behooved  him  to  be  made  like  unto  his  breth- 
ren;" whence,  as  he  likewise  adds  [ver.  18],  "in  that  he  hath 
himself  suffered,  being  tempted,  he  is  able  to  succour  them  that 
are  tempted." 

Man,  however,  always-  brings  some  of  his  hereditary  inclina- 
tions to  evil  into  act,  whence  they  are  appropriated  to  him,  and 
become  what  is  properly  called  sin :  for  sin  is  evil  brought  into 
act ;  or,  if  not  into  outward  act,  so  confirmed  in  will  and  thought 
by  meditating  on  and  intending  it,  that  nothing  but  a  suitable 
opportunity  is  wanted  for  bringing  it  into  outward  performance. 
But  the  Apostle  assures  us  that  Jesus  was  "without  sin;"  by 
which  he  instructs  us,  that  although  He  had,  in  the  imperfect 
nature  inherited  from  the  human  mother,  the  same  "infirmities" 
as  ourselves,  yet  He  never  brought  any  of  them  into  act,  nor 
even  into  intention,  resisting  and  rejecting  them  whenever  they 
were  excited  by  the  infernal  powers  ;  which  was,  during  his 
whole  life  upon  earth.  Thus,  although  continually  tempted,  He 
was  victorious  in  eveiy  conflict ;  till  at  length,  all  the  remnant 
of  imperfection  being  extirpated,  no  infernal  influence  could 
possibly  approach  Him  any  more.  The  last  of  these  conflicts  or 
temptations  was  at  the  passion  of  the  cross.  Then,  while  He 
was  outwardly  assailed  with  all  the  contumely  and  cruelty  that 
men,  or  rather  demons  incarnate,  could  be  capable  of,  He  was 
assailed  inwardly  with  all  the  tortures  of  mind,  all  the  sugges- 
tions to  relinquish  entirely  the  human  race  to  their  malice,  that 
all  the  powers  of  hell,  including  every  spirit  belonging  to  their 
kingdom,  combined  for  a  last  great  effort,  could  urge  or  in- 
sinuate. But  although  his  human  nature  was,  in  this  great 
contest,  apparently  left  to  itself,  He  did  not  in  the  slightest  de- 


SALVATION'  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  251 


gree  yield  to  the  diabolical  injections.  The  object  of  the  de- 
moniacal powers  was,  to  compel  Him  to  leave  mankind  to  their 
fury,  and  to  give  up  his  concern  for  man's  salvation ;  but  that 
He  did  not,  to  the  last,  yield  in  this  respect  a  hair's  breadth, 
may  be  inferred  from  his  expiring  words,  when  he  said  [John 
xix.  2S],  "I  thirst:"  for  the  Lord's  thirst  is  nothing  but  his 
intense  desire  that  man  would  receive  the  blessings  which  He  is 
desirous  to  bestow, — thus,  that  man  may  be  saved.  Still,  the 
obstinacy  with  which  the  infernal  powers  urged  their  assaults, 
appeared,  to  the  Humanity  thus  left  to  itself,  so  insuperable,  that 
a  sense  of  despair  arose,  and  occasioned  the  exclamation,  [Matt, 
xxvii.  46],  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me," 
by  which  we  learn,  not  that  the  Lord  Jesus  was  indeed  forsaken, 
or  was  destitute  of  support  from  the  Essential  Divinity  within 
Him,  but  that  the  mere  humanity,  or  that  received  from  the 
finite  human  mother,  was  brought  to  this  sense  of  destitution,  as 
necessary  to  prepare  for  the  full  descent  of  the  Divinity,  and  that 
this  might  entirely  renew  the  Humanity,  and  become  the  all  in 
all  in  it. 

Thus  it  was  that,  by  submitting  to  a  violent  death,  or  by  lay- 
ing down  the  life  of  his  natural  humanity,  and  this  under  circum- 
stances of  such  dreadful  suffering,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  became 
a  Saviour  to  his  people.  To  speak  again  in  the  accurately  des- 
criptive language  of  the  apostle  [Heb.  ii.  10]  :  "He  was  made 
perfect  through  sufferings"  by  which  the  Apostle  means,  that 
his  Humanity  was  thus  assimilated  in  perfection  to  his  Divinity. 
As  the  Apostle  says  again  [Heb.  v.  8,  9],  "  He  learned  obedience 
by  the  things  which  he  suffered ;  and,  being  made  perfect,  he 
became  the  Author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all  them  that  obey 
him  :"  where  by  his  learning  obedience  is  meant,  the  entire  con- 
formity of  his  Human  Nature  to  his  Divine :  and  by  his  becom- 
ing the  Author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all  them  that  obey  him,  is 
meant,  that  He  assumed  the  power  of  conferring  salvation  upon 
those,  who,  in  like  manner,  learn  obedience  of  Him,  and  follow 
Him.  Thus  his  sufferings  and  death  were  indispensably  neces- 
sary to  our  salvation  ;  since,  without  them,  the  Divine  Life  could 
not  have  descended,  so  as  entirely  to  assimilate  to  itself  the  whole 
of  the  Human  Nature,  even  to  the  body  also :  or,  according  to 


252 


LECTURE  XVI. 


the  observations  in  our  last  two  Lectures,  the  Human  Nature 
could  not  have  become  a  sacrifice, — a  thing  wholly  devoted,  sanc- 
tified, glorified,  and  united  to  the  Divinity.  And  without  this, 
he  could  not  have  become  to  us  "the  Author  of  eternal  salva- 
tion." 

II.  I  am  in  the  next  place  to  show,  That  by  the  blood  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  in  a  figurative  natural  sense,  as  commonly  used  in 
the  writings  of  the  Apostles,  is  meant  his  death,  as  indispensably 
necessary  for  the  purposes  just  explained. 

The  passages  in  which  the  whole  of  the  salvation  of  man  is  as- 
cribed to  the  blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  by  no  means 
so  numerous  as  a  person  would  suppose,  who  should  attend  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  subject  is  so  often  treated  in  the  reli- 
gious world.  Many  religious  persons  and  teachers  have  the 
phrase  "the  blood  of  Christ,"  or  "  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  per- 
petually on  their  lips ;  and  a  stranger  to  the  Scriptures  would 
suppose,  from  this  use  of  it  by  those  who  profess  thence  to  de- 
rive their  views  of  divine  truth,  that  it  must  occur  in  every  verse, 
or  at  least  in  every  chapter  of  the  New  Testament.  This,  how- 
ever, is  far  indeed  from  being  the  case  :  and  all  the  doctrines  of 
the  Christian  religion  might  be  fully  expressed,  were  it  never 
used  at  all.  I  mean,  that  although  its  occurrence  in  Scripture, 
though  not  frequent,  was  unquestionably  necessary,  its  doctrinal 
import  may  easily  be  conveyed  in  other  terms. 

By  the  Lord  himself,  his  flesh  is  always  spoken  of  in  company 
with  his  blood;  as  when  he  declares  to  the  Jews  [John  vi.  53], 
"Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood, 
ye  have  no  life  in  you :"  and  as  when  he  says,  in  the  institution 
of  the  holy  supper  [Matt,  xxvi  26,  27],  "Take,  eat:  this  is  my 
body; — drink  ye  all  of  it;  this  is  my  blood."  In  fact,  he  never 
speaks  of  the  one  without  the  other :  but  then,  as  we  shall  see 
presently,  when  he  speaks  of  it,  his  language  is  properly  to  be 
understood  in  a  purely  spiritual  manner. 

In  the  book  of  the  Acts,  though  the  Apostles  are  continually 
directing  their  hearers  to  Jesus,  they  mention  his  blood  only 
once.  This  is  in  Paul's  address  to  the  Ephesian  elders,  to  whom 
he  says  [Acts  xx.  28],  "The  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  over- 
seers, to  feed  the  Church  of  God,  which  he  hath  purchased  with 


SALVATION  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF   JESUS  CHRIST.  253 


his  own  blood.''''  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  it  is  mentioned 
twice.  Speaking  of  Jesus,  the  Apostle  says  [ch.  iii.  2-5],  "Whom 
God  hath  set  forth,  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his 
blood."  Again  :  [ch.  v.  S,  9],  "But  God  commendeth  his  love 
toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us ; 
much  more  then,  being  now  justified  by  his  blood,  we  shall  be 
saved  from  wrath  through  him." — In  neither  of  the  two  Epistles 
to  the  Corinthians  is  the  blood  of  Christ  mentioned  at  all,  ex- 
cept in  reciting  the  Lord's  own  words  in  the  institution  of  the 
holy  supper. — Nothing  whatever  is  said  of  it  to  the  Galatians. 
To  the  Ephesians,  speaking  of  Jesus,  Paul  says  [ch.  i.  7],  "In 
whom  we  have  redemption,  through  his  blood:"  and  again,  [ch. 
ii.  13],  "Ye  who  were  sometime  afar  off,  are  made  nigh  by  the 
blood  of  Christ." — To  the  Colossians,  the  Apostle  says,  [ch.  i.  19, 
20],  "For  it  pleased  (the  Father)  that  in  him  (Jesus)  should  all 
fulness  dwell ;  and,  having  made  peace  by  the  blood  of  his  cross, 
by  him  to  reconcile  all  things  unto  himself." — It  is  not  mentioned 
in  either  of  the  two  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians — nor  in  either 
of  those  to  Timothy, — nor  in  that  to  Titus, — nor  in  that  to 
Philemon. — To  the  Hebrews,  Paul  says  of  Jesus  [ch.  ix.  12 — 14], 
"  By  his  own  blood  he  entered  into  the  holy  place,  having  ob- 
tained eternal  redemption  for  us.  For  if  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
of  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  a  heifer,  sprinkling  the  unclean,  sanc- 
tifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  how  much  more  shall  the 
blood  of  Christ,  who  through  the  Eternal  Spirit  offered  himself 
without  spot  to  God,  purge  your  consciences  from  dead  works  to 
serve  the  living  God."  Again,  he  says  [ch.  x.  19],  that  we  have 
"  boldness  to  enter  into  the  holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus."  Again 
[ch.  xii.  24],  that  we  are  come  "  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling  that 
speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel."  And,  finally  [ch.  xiii. 
12],  that  "  Jesus,  that  he  might  sanctify  the  people  with  his  own 
blood,  suffered  without  the  gate." — These  are  all  the  passages 
that  mention  the  Lord's  blood  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostle 
Paul ;  which  I  recite  to  show  how  little  this  Apostle  has  said 
upon  the  subject,  though  ordinary  teachers  suppose  his  doctrine 
respecting  it  to  be  the  same  as  their  own.  Of  the  other  writers 
of  the  New  Testament,  Peter  mentions  it  twice, — James,  not  at 
all, — John,  twice  in  his  first  Epistle,  and  in  the  Revelation  three 
times. 


254 


LECTURE  XVI. 


Now,  in  all  these  places,  even  if  it  is  wished  to  abide  in  a 
merely  natural  idea  of  the  Lord's  blood,  it  is  plain  that  the 
blood  actually  poured  from  his  body  on  the  cross  cannot  be 
meant.  This  was  spilled  on  the  ground,  and  mixed  with  the 
elements :  and  how  faith  can  be  exercised  in  this  blood,  or  how 
it  can  benefit  the  sinner,  is  wholly  inconceivable.  Neither  can 
it  be  conceived  how  this  blood  can,  as  affirmed  in  one  of  the  last 
quotations,  "  purify  the  conscience  from  dead  or  evil  works.".  If 
then  it  still  is  wished  to  understand  what  is  said  of  the  Lord's 
blood  in  a  natural  sense,  it  is  evident  that  we  must  take  it,  meta- 
phorically, for  his  death:  which  is  a  sense  that  blood  unques- 
tionably bears  very  often  in  the  idiom  of  all  languages  ;  as  when 
the  Jews  exclaimed,  "  His  blood  be  upon  us  and  upon  our  chil- 
dren ;"  evidently  meaning,  the  guilt  of  his  death.  Now  in  all 
the  passages  which  we  have  adduced,  where  it  is  said  that  we  are 
"purchased  by  his  blood"  "  reconciled  by  his  blood"  "justified 
through  his  blood"  and  the  like  ;  if  by  the  term  we  understand 
the  laying  down  of  his  life,  we  shall  obtain  a  clear  and  true  signi- 
fication of  the  expression.  This  is  evident  from  what  was  ad- 
vanced in  our  last  two  Lectures  ;  in  which  we  showed  that  £the 
Lord's  death  was  the  completion  of  the  sacrifice  which  He  made 
of  himself  to  the  Father,  and  that  this  sacrifice  was  neither  more 
nor  less  than  the  rendering  of  his  Humanity  divine,  by  extirpa- 
ting from  it  all  that  was  inherited  from  the  human  mother,  and 
combining  it  in  perfect  union  with  the  Divine  Essence,  as  the 
body  is  united  to  the  soul,  so  that  in  it,  afterwards,  "  the  whole 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelt  bodily"  [Col.  ii.  9],  as  in  the 
body  of  a  man  dwells  the  whole  of  his  soul.  Now  if  by  this 
union,  as  has  been  shown  in  several  former  Lectures,  the  divine 
influences  upon  man  were  so  attempered,  and  yet,  as  to  him, 
strengthened,  that  he  was  made  capable  of  being  affected  by 
them  in  a  manner  which  before  was  impossible,  on  account  of 
the  low  state  to  which  he  had  sunk  ;  we  shall  see  how  true  it  is, 
that  all  that  is  stated  by  the  Apostle,  in  the  passages  we  have 
quoted,  was  really  effected  for  man  by  the  blood,  meaning  thereby 
the  death,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  By  the  reception  of  the 
divine  aids  thus  afforded,  man  is  "justified,"  or  made  and  ac- 
counted just, — is  "  brought  nigh,"  "  reconciled,"  "  purified,"  and 


SALVATION  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


255 


"purchased," — or  rescued  from  the  power  of  the  devil  and  en- 
gaged in  the  service  of  God.  In  short,  thus  understood,  no 
representation  of  the  virtues  of  "the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  however 
exalted  and  magnified,  can  possibly  exceed  the  truth. 

Here,  I  must  pause  a  moment  to  observe,  here  is  matter, 
which  is  amply  indeed  calculated,  if  we  allow  it  to  engage  our 
reflections  as  it  ought,  to  move  in  the  strongest  manner  both 
the  natural  and  the  spiritual  affections  at  once.  Most  assuredly, 
"  greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his 
life  for  his  friends"  [John.  xv.  13].  None  acknowledge  this 
divine  truth  more  gratefully  than  we.  If  the  laying  down  of 
life  for  his  friends  were  an  affecting  occurrence  even  on  the  part 
of  an  ordinary  human  being,  how  ought  it  to  be  considered 
when  we  reflect,  in  the  case  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom 
it  was  done.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  we  cannot  consider  that 
part  of  Him  which  suffered  and  died  to  be  Jehovah  Himself ; 
but,  assuredly,  as  that  which  suffered  and  died  had  no  other 
soul  than  Jehovah  himself, — was  animated  by  a  life  emanating 
from  Jehovah  himself  more  immediately  than  in  the  case  of  any 
one  who  is  merely  a  man  ; — we  cannot  but  regard  even  the 
sufferings  and  death  of  such  a  Being  as  having  the  most  stu- 
pendous claims  to  our  gratitude  and  love.  But  what  shall  we 
think  of  the  love  of  Jehovah  himself,  who  took  this  mode  of 
uniting  himself  to  human  nature,  and  whose  love  it  was,  anima- 
ting the  human  nature  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  even  while 
this  was  yet  not  wholly  glorified,  that  prompted  the  extraordi- 
nary works  and  sufferings  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  con- 
sidered as  this  compound  Being,  underwent  ?  And  when  we 
know  that  by  these  means  a  work  of  redemption  was  accom- 
plished for  us  ;  when  we  know  that  salvation,  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  for  ever  impossible  to  us,  was  placed  within 
our  reach  ;  when  we  know  that  the  Lord,  as  the  Great  Friend 
of  man,  has  by  this  interference  bestowed  on  man  the  power  of 
being  his  Friend  also,  and  is  desirous  to  be  conjoined  to  him  in 
that  character  ;  how  ought  we  to  accept  the  proffered  benefits,  to 
admit  the  divine  interference  in  our  behalf  to  become  effectual, 
and  to  aspire  to  the  high  privilege  of  becoming  of  the  number 
of  the  Lord's  friends  indeed,  by  complying  with  the  condition 


256 


LECTURE  XVI. 


which  he  has  annexed  to  it ;  "  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  what- 
soever I  have  commanded  you."    [John  xv.  14.] 

III.  But  I  must  proceed  finally  to  prove,  that  there  is  a  more 
exalted  sense  belonging  to  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ :  That,  when 
spoken  of  by  the  Lord  himself  in  the  gospels,  his  blood  is  properly 
to  be  understood  in  a  spiritual  manner ;  and  that  then  it  never 
signifies  his  death  and  sufferings  ;  but  the  communications  of  his 
Holy  Spirit  proceeding  from  his  Glorified  Humanity,  to  convey 
spiritual  life,  and  thus  salvation,  to  mankind. 

As  already  noticed,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  never  speaks  of  his 
blood,  without  speaking  of  his  flesh  at  the  same  time :  and 
though  the  blood  alone,  by  a  very  easy  metonymy,  may  be  men- 
tioned to  express  death,  because  violent  deaths  are  commonly  ac- 
companied with  the  shedding  of  blood,  it  is  impossible  that  death 
can  be  what  is  signified  by  the  mention  of  flesh,  or  of  flesh  and 
blood  in  conjunction.  It  is  indeed  commonly  supposed,  that  the 
Lord's  flesh  and  blood  in  the  Holy  Supper,  which  he  gives  to  be 
representatively  eaten  and  drunk  under  the  types  of  bread  and 
wine,  are  merely  given  to  express  his  death,  and  as  memorials  of 
it.  But  how  is  this  strictly  applicable  to  his  long  discourse  with 
the  Jews  respecting  his  flesh  and  blood,  in  the  sixth  chapter  of 
John  ?  After  calling  himself  the  bread  of  life,  and  contrasting 
this  bread  with  the  manna  which  the  ancient  Jews,  who  were 
dead,  had  eaten  in  the  wilderness,  he  says  [ver.  50],  "  This  is 
the  bread  which  cometh  down  from  heaven,  that  a  man  may  eat 
thereof  and  not  die."  He  then  proceeds  thus  [ver.  51]  :  "  I 
am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven  :  If  any  man 
eat  of  this  bread,  he  shall  live  forever :  and  the  bread  that  I 
will  give  is  my  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the  world," 
The  record  proceeds  :  "  The  Jews  therefore  strove  among  them- 
selves, saying,  How  can  this  man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat? 
Then  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood, 
ye  have  no  life  in  you.  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh 
my  blood,  hath  eternal  life  :  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last 
day.  For  my  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  my  drink  is  blood  indeed. 
He  that  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my  blood,  dwelleth  in  me 
and  I  in  him.    As  the  living  Father  had  sent  me,  and  I  live  by 


SALVATION  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  257 

the  Father;  so  he  that  eateth  me,  even  he  shall  live  by  me. 
This  is  that  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven  :  not  as  your 
fathers  did  eat  manna,  and  are  dead  :  he  that  eateth  of  this 
bread  shall  live  forever"  [John  vi.  52 — 58].  Evidently,  the 
Lord  is  here  speaking  in  parables,  or  in  enigmatic  sayings  :  and 
it  is  no  wonder  that  people  of  such  gross  perceptions  as  the  Jews 
should  cavil  about  it  and  say,  "  How  can  this  man  give  us  his 
flesh  to  eat:"  which  question  of  theirs,  I  will  take  upon  me  to 
say,  receives  no  satisfactory  answer  in  the  doctrines  commonly 
prevailing  among  Christians  at  the  present  da}*.  How  do  those 
doctrines  at  all  explain  what  the  Lord  means  when  He  says, 
"  He  that  eateth  me,  shall  live  by  me  ?"  Can  it  possibly  relate 
to  his  death  upon  the  cross  ?  Can  faith  in  his  death  be  what  He 
here  teaches  by  speaking  of  the  necessity  of  eating  his  flesh  and 
drinking  his  blood, — yea  of  eating  himself?  If  we  admit  that, 
by  very  harsh  figures,  to  eat  and  drink  may  signify  to  have  faith, 
and  his  flesh  and  blood,  yea,  himself,  may  mean  his  death  by 
crucifixion,  none  can  feel  satisfied  with  such  a  forced  explana- 
nation  :  all  must  be  disposed  to  think,  that  the  proper  signification 
must  be  more  in  harmony  with  the  expressions.  But  the  mys- 
tery is  easily  cleared  up,  when  we  are  aware,  (what  has  gene- 
rally, and  for  many  ages  past,  been  entirely  overlooked,)  that* 
the  Lord  was  continually  in  the  practice  of  couching  his  divine 
and  spiritual  meaning  in  terms  borrowed  from  the  objects  of 
outward  nature ;  not,  however,  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  but 
agreeably  to  a  certain  fixed  analogy  or  correspondence  esta- 
blished from  creation  between  the  objects  of  the  world  of  matter 
and  those  of  the  world  of  mind,  or  between  the  existences  of  the 
natural  and  those  of  the  spiritual  world ;  which  are  so  formed, 
that  there  is  no  spiritual  existence  whatever  which  has  not  its 
proper  type  and  representative  in  the  world  of  nature.  When- 
ever, therefore,  the  Lord  speaks  of  his  flesh  and  blood,  he  refers 
to  the  two  essential  principles  which  constitute  his  divine  frame, 
as  flesh  and  blood  constitute  that  of  man  ;  and  we  have  seen,  in 
our  third  Lecture,  that  these  are  his  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom, 
or  Goodness  and  Truth.  Nothing  else  enters  into  the  pure 
Essence  of  Deity :  and  nothing  else  can  constitute  the  interior 
essence  of  the  human  mind,  if  renewed,  and  prepared  to  receive 
17 


258 


LECTURE  XVI. 


and  enjoy  God.  Hence  it  is,  when  the  Lord  speaks  of  his  flesh 
and  blood,  that  he  speaks  of  them  as  being  the  proper  food  of 
human  souls  : — "  Except  ye  eat  my  flesh,  and  drink  my  blood, 
ye  have  no  life  in  you," — that  is,  no  spiritual  life, — nothing  that 
can  qualify  the  soul  to  live  in  heaven.  That  the  Lord  did  not 
mean  the  flesh  and  blood  of  his  natural  body,  is  evident  from  his 
answer  to  the  murmuring  Jews  and  short  sighted  disciples. 
The  former  said,  as  we  have  noticed,  "  Can  this  man  give  us  his 
flesh  to  eat ;" — and  the  latter,  [John  vi.  60],  "  This  is  a  hard 
saying  ;'who  can  hear  it  ?"  But  He  presently  explained  himself 
by  adding,  "  It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth  ;  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing :  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit  and 
they  are  life."  When  the  Lord  thus  said  that  the  natural  flesh 
profiteth  nothing,  He  of  course  meant  the  same  respecting  the 
natural  blood  :  He  therefore  directs  us  to  look  for  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  his  words  :  and  in  the  spiritual  meaning,  He  evi- 
dently intends,  by  flesh  and  blood,  the  most  essential  constituents 
of  his  own  nature,  which  Scripture  and  reason  alike  testify  to 
be,  Love  and  Wisdom,  or  Goodness  and  Truth. 

This  is  the  most  proper  signification  of  "the  blood  of  the 
*Lamb"  in  the  passage  which  I  have  taken  as  a  text  for  this 
*  Lecture.  As  noticed  in  our  second  Lecture  on  Redemption,  the 
word  there  translated  "  redeemed"  properly  means  purchased: — 
"  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals 
thereof:  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  purchased  us  to  God  by 
thy  blood,  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and 
nation."  By  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  by  which  man  is  purchased 
and  saved,  is  meant,  in  the  purely  spiritual  sense,  the  Divine 
Truth  flowing  from  the  Lord's  Glorified  Humanity,  and  offered 
for  the  quickening  of  man,  and  the  renewing  of  him  to  spiritual 
life.  This  is  received  by  us,  when  we  believe  his  Word,  attain 
a  right  understanding  of  it,  allow  it  to  purify  our  hearts,  and 
make  it  the  director  of  our  lives.  It  is  a  pure  gift  of  the  Lord's 
divine  bounty,  and,  when  accepted  by  us,  we  are  bound  ?  w  g  tire 
purchased  by  it,  to  his  service.  Had  He  not  assumed  our  na- 
ture, and  died  or  been  slain  for  us,  this  reception  of  the  truth 
and  life  of  his  Word  would  forever  have  remained  beyond  our 
reach;  but  these  being,  through  the  glorification  of  his  Human- 


SALVATION  BY  THE  BLOOD  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  259 

ity,  to  which  his  death  was  an  indispensable  preliminary,  thus 
presented  to  us  in  a  form  which  we  can  apprehend,  we  may  now 
do,  what  Adam  after  the  fall  was  incapable  of,  "  put  forth  our 
hand  unto  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for  ever."  In  its 
highest  reference,  the  tree  of  life  is  the  Lord  himself,  and  its 
fruits,  the  heavenly  graces  of  faith  and  charity  of  which  He  is 
the  Author  :  ^md  these,  in  the  accommodated  form  of  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — of  the  divine  goodness  and 
truth  proceeding  from  his  Human  Nature,  glorified  or  rendered 
Divine,  are  offered  to  the  acceptance  of  the  whole  human  race. 
Whatever  the  varieties  of  man's  state,  character,  and  attain- 
•ments,  the  graces  of  salvation  are  made  free  to  all.  He  hath 
purchased  all  by  his  blood,  "out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue, 
and  people,  and  nation." 

Now  let  me  ask  you,  my  friends  and  brethren,  whether  this 
is  not  a  rational,  and,  what  is  of  more  importance,  a  Scriptural 
view  of  the  subject?  T  am  sure  most  of  you  will  allow  it  to  be 
more  rational  than  any  other  that  is  taught  in  the  present  day  : 
and  I  am  satisfied,  if  you  lay  aside  pre-conceived  notions  and 
search  the  Scriptures  with  candour,  you  will  discover  that  it  is 
more  Scriptural  also.  Where  do  you  find  one  word  in  the 
Scriptures  respecting  one  Divine  Person  dying  in  inexpressible 
tortures  to  appease  the  wrath  of  another  Divine  Person,  who 
would  consent  to  be  reconciled  on  no  other  conditions  ?  I 
protest,  if  I  may  say  it  without  offence,  that  I  am  quite  asto- 
nished how  such  a  persuasion  ever  entered  the  human  imagina- 
tion :  dark,  and  gloomy,  and  destitute  of  all  light  of  intelligence, 
must  that  mind  have  been,  which  first  conceived  so  monstrous 
a  supposition  ; — a  supposition  which  clearly  sets  up  two,  not 
Divine  Persons  only,  but  Divine  Beings,  of  contradictory  na- 
tures ;  and  which  assigns  to  the  first  of  these  Beings  a  nature 
totally  opposite  to  that  which  must  essentially  belong  to  the 
great  and  gracious  Father  of  the  universe.  And  my  astonish- 
ment is  increased  that  the  inventor  of  this  notion  should  have 
fancied  that  he  found  it  in  the  Bible,  in  which,  most  assuredly, 
not  a  trace  of  it  exists.  The  doctrine  of  salvation  by  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  indeed  declared  in  the  Bible  :  but  will  any, 
for  the  sake  of  maintaining  this  doctrine,  adhere  to  the  prepos- 


260 


LECTURE  XVI. 


terous  form,  as  just  recited,  in  which  it  is  commonly  presented, 
when  the  real  Scripture  doctrine  of  Salvation  by  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ,  requires,  as  we  have  seen,  no  such  melancholy 
inconsistencies  to  account  for  and  uphold  it  ?  Jesus  Christ  did 
indeed  suffer  for  us,  yea,  instead  of  us,  because  otherwise  we 
must  have  perished  eternally :  and  He  did  thereby  effect  for  us 
an  atonement,  as  we  shall  see  in  our  next  Lecture  but  one  : 
But  He  did  not  undergo  this  suffering  as  a  punishment  inflicted 
upon  Him  by  another  Divine  Person,  as  a  commutation  for  our 
eternal  punishment,  but  because,  as  we  have  seen,  his  Humanity 
could  not  otherwise  be  glorified  ;  and,  without  this  He  could  not 
have  given  his  flesh  and  blood  to  us  to  eat  and  drink ; — could, 
not  have  imparted,  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  for  the  nourishment  of 
our  souls,  the  blessed  communications  of  his  divine  love  and 
wisdom,  his  grace  and  mercy.  These  are  extended  to  us,  because 
He  glorified  his  Humanity,  which  could  not  have  been  accom- 
plished, but  through  its  sufferings  and  death.  Thus,  adored  be 
his  infinite  mercy,  "  by  his  stripes  we  are  healed :"  He,  as  to  his 
Humanity,  has  been  "  made  perfect  through  sufferings :"  and 
thus  He  is  "  become  the  Author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all  that 
obey  Him." 


LECTURE  XVII. 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST:  IN  WHAT 
THOSE  OFFICES  CONSIST  ;  AND  HOW  THEY  ARE  IN  AGREEMENT 
WITH  HIS  SUPREME  DIVINITY,  AND  WITH  THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY 
OF  THE  DIVINE  PERSON  AND  ESSENCE. 


1  Tim.  ii.  5,  and  Heb.  vii.  25. 

"  There  is  one  God,  and  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the 

Man  Christ  Jesus." 
"  Wherefore  he  is  able,  also,  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that  come 

unto  God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for 

them." 

The  Lectures  which  I  have  now  for  some  time  been  engaged  in 
delivering  upon  some  of  the  most  important  doctrines  of  what  we 
believe  to  be  the  True  Christian  Religion,  are  intended,  as  I  have 
before  remarked,  to  show  that  a  system  of  religion  is  now  exist- 
ing in  the  world,  which  is  free  from  the  contradictions,  either  of 
Scripture  or  Reason,  that  attach  to  all  the  systems  of  doctrine 
commonly  upheld,  and  which  thus  renders  Christianity  itself 
invulnerable  to  the  cavils  and  objections  of  the  Sceptic  or  the 
Infidel.  Who  can  wonder  that  erroneous  opinions  should  still 
obscure  the  transparent  beauty  of  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Word 
of  God,  when  it  is  remembered  that,  only  about  three  hundred 
years  ago,  the  light  of  Divine  Truth  was  all  but  entirely  extinct 
through  the  whole  Christian  world?  At  that  period,  all  the 
western  part  of  Christendom  was  sunk  in  the  errors  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  its  deepest  state  of  darkness  :  while  the  Greek 
Church,  which  occupied  the  eastern  portion  of  the  professedly 
Christian  world,  had,  in  a  manner,  scorned  to  be  outdone  by  her 
western  rival,  and  had  added  an  equal  proportion  of  corruptions 
and  superstitions  to  the  holy  fabric  of  the  gospel.  At  a  very 
early  period  indeed,  the  love  of  domination  that  true  man  of  sin 


262 


LECTURE  XVII. 


of  the  Apostle  Paul  and  of  Daniel, — the  desire  to  make  the  sanc- 
tities of  religion  the  means  of  promoting  the  power  and  aggran- 
dizement of  the  priesthood,  infused  "its  defiling  influence  into  the 
institutions  of  Christianity  :  and  though  the  bishops  of  Rome, 
being  placed  under  circumstances  peculiarly  favourable  to  the 
advancement  of  such  projects,  succeeded  far  beyond  any  others 
in  their  attempts  to  extend  their  authority,  and  subdue  both  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  men  to  their  sway,  they  only  accomplished 
more  perfectly,  what  had  become  the  great  aim  and  object  of  the 
hierarchy  in  general.  Throughout  all  Christendom,  almost  every 
bishop,  and,  in  fact,  almost  every  monk  and  priest,  lorded  it  at 
will  over  God's  heritage,  and  became,  each  in  his  place,  an  absolute 
pope,  as  far  as  his  sphere  extended.  Such  was  the  state  of  eccle- 
siastical authority  in  the  Christian  world  during  many  centuries  : 
and  it  is  by  no  means  a  matter  of  wonder,  when  such  corrupt  prin- 
ciples reigned  at  what  ought  to  be  the  fountain-head  of  spiritual 
intelligence,  if  spiritual  intelligence,  or  intelligence  on  spiritual 
subjects,  almost  disappeared  from  the  earth  ;  and  if  doctrines,  as 
remote  from  the  pure  truth  of  the  Word  of  God,  as  the  desire  of  ob- 
taining rule  by  means  of  the  sanctities  of  religion  is  from  its  spirit  of 
heavenlylove,were  graduallyintroduced,  accepted,  and  confirmed. 
By  degrees,  also,  the  Scriptures  themselves  were  withdrawn  from 
the  hands  of  the  people, and,  in  numberless  instances,  were  scarcely 
known  even  to  the  priests  themselves.  Such  was  the  state  of 
things  at  the  period  of  the  Reformation  :  where,  then,  as  I  have 
remarked  in  a  former  Lecture,  is  the  wonder,  that  the  leaders  of 
that  great  work,  superior  as  they  were  to  the  general  intelligence 
of  their  times,  while  they  cleared  away  a  multitude  of  the  grosser 
corruptions  of  a  practical  nature,  should  have  retained  many  of 
the  doctrinal  errors  which  had  been  introduced  during  the  ages 
of  darkness?  Where  is  even  the  wonder,  if,  in  their  desire  to 
separate  their  followers  as  decisively  as  possible  from  the  adhe- 
rents of  the  old  religion,  they  should,  in  some  instances,  even 
have  introduced  new  errors,  to  form  such  points  of  separation  ? 
Is  it  at  all  extraordinary,  when  they  performed  the  most  important 
work  of  bringing  the  Word  of  God  into  general  use,  after  it  had 
been  so  long  neglected  and  almost  forgotten,  if  they  themselves 
did  not  at  once  discover  the  truths  which  it  delivers  on  some 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  263 

points,  and  even  in  matters  of  the  utmost  moment  ?  And  is  it 
beyond  measure  surprising,  if,  in  times  like  the  present,  when  a 
change  appears  actually  to  have  taken  place  in  the  human  mind 
itself, — when,  on  all  other  subjects,  there  is  so  remarkable  an  in- 
crease in  knowledge  and  intelligence, — when  men  are  no  longer 
disposed  to  acquiesce,  as  heretofore,  in  a  blind  faith  which  is  not 
to  be  submitted  to  the  examination  of  the  understanding, — when 
numbers,  in  consequence,  are  becoming  Deists  and  Atheists,  and 
are  active  in  increasing  their  ranks  by  calling  attention  to  the 
inconsistencies  in  the  prevailing  systems  of  theology  ;  is  it,  I 
say,  in  such  a  crisis,  a  thing  beyond  measure  surprising,  if  the 
Divine  Providence  of  the  Lord,  knowing  that  the  general  rejec- 
tion of  Revealed  Religion  would  be  fatal  to  the  eternal  happiness 
of  man,  and  even,  perhaps,  to  the  continuance  of  the  species  on 
this  globe,  should,  by  such  means  as  Divine  Wisdom  sees  fit, 
provide  for  the  introduction  of  a  system  of  doctrine,  in  which  the 
True  Christian  Religion  should  be  restored  in  its  purity,  the  er- 
rors, though  long  accumulated,  of  human  invention,  should  be 
done  away,  and  the  consistency  of  Divine  Revelation  with  itself, 
and  of  its  doctrines  with  sound  and  elevated  reason,  should  be 
seen  and  established  ? 

I  offer  these  considerations,  my  friends  and  brethren,  by  way 
of  accounting  for  that  which  might  otherwise  appear  extraordi- 
nary. We  all  have  honest  prejudices  in  behalf  of  the  opinions 
in  which  we  have  been  educated  ;  and  when,  in  addition,  we  have 
entered  warmly  into  the  profession  of  them  at  adult  age,  we  are 
apt  to  feel  hurt  when  doubts  are  suggested  as  to  their  truth. 
Novelty,  again,  in  religious  points,  is  usually  considered  as  syno- 
nymous with  error.  Yet  I  trust  the  suggestions  I  have  offered 
will  be  deemed  sufficient  to  show,  that  it  is  possible  for  religious 
opinions  to  be  old,  and  to  have  prevailed  for  a  long  time,  and  yet 
not  to  be  true  ;  or  to  be  new,  at  least  in  appearance,  and  from 
having  been  long  lost  sight  of,  and  yet  not  to  be  false.  And  as  we 
wish  to  submit  the  doctrines  which  we  believe  to  be  those  of  the 
True  Christian  Religion  with  all  possible  respect  for  the  feelings 
of  those  who  at  present  think  differently,  I  trust  that  I  shall 
continue  to  receive  the  candid  attention  of  all  who  feel  an  inte- 
rest in  such  momentous  inquiries. 


264 


LECTURE  XVII. 


The  subjects  which  we  have  considered  in  this  second  branch 
of  our  Lectures,  have  been,  the  Redemption  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
properly  consisting  in  the  removal  from  man  of  the  preponder- 
ating power  of  Hell ;  The  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the 
Illustration  it  receives  from  the  Sacrifices  of  the  Levitical  Law ; 
and,  Salvation  by  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  the  subject 
of  our  Lecture  of  this  evening  is  to  be,  The  Mediation  and 
Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ ;  in  what  those  offices  consist ;  and 
how  they  are  in  agreement  with  his  Supreme  Divinity,  and  with 
the  Absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Person  and  Essence. 

As  I  stated  in  our  last  Lecture  respecting  the  Doctrine  of  Salva- 
tion by  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  I  must  observe  now  respect- 
ing that  of  his  Mediation  and  Intercession.  No  doctrine  is  more 
unequivocally  declared  in  Scripture ;  and  though  those  terms 
themselves  do  not  often  occur,  the  things  intended  by  them  are 
assumed  as  realities  throughout  the  New  Testament.  Yet,  cer- 
tainly, whatever  is  meant  by  them  in  the  Scriptures,  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  commonly  presented  by  theological  writers  and 
popular  preachers,  is  such  as  very  greatly  to  embarrass  the  minds 
of  those  who  either  believe  in  the  absolute  unity  of  God,  or  •in 
heart  acknowledge  the  supreme  Divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ :  and  still  more,  when  either  or  both  of  these  truths 
are  accompanied  with  an  entire  conviction  of  the  pure  be- 
nevolence of  the  Divine  Nature.  These  truths,  also,  are  agreea- 
ble to  all  genuine  Reason  ;  all,  therefore,  who  are  convinced 
that  no  doctrines  revealed  from  heaven  can  be  at  variance  with 
such  as  are  seen  to  be  in  agreement  with  genuine  Reason, 
cannot  but  be  staggered  in  their  views  on  this  subject,  when 
they  hear  the  Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ 
dwelt  upon  in  the  manner  in  which  they  are  commonly  pre- 
sented, and  when  this  is  declared  to  be  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  revealed  in  the  Word  of  God.  With  whom  is  Jesus 
chiefly  supposed  to  mediate  and  intercede, — with  man,  or 
with  God  ?  Few  seem  ever  to  think  of  his  interceding  on 
the  part  of  God  with  man ;  nothing  is  in  general  dwelt  upon, 
but  his  intercession  for  man  with  God.  And  what  does  this 
suppose,  but  that  God  is  estranged  from  man,  views  him  with 
anger  and  wrath,  and  desires  to  take  vengeance  on  him  for  his 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  265 


delinquencies,  and  to  consign  him  to  eternal  ruin  ;  and  that  He 
is  only  withheld  from  doing  so  by  the  intervention  of  his  Son, 
who  pleads  before  Him  his  own  merits  and  sufferings,  and  so 
awakening  the  Father's  paternal  tenderness,  not  for  his  created 
children  but  for  his  own  only-begotten  Son,  induces  Him  to 
pardon  those  for  whom  his  Son,  in  this  way,  intercedes?  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  this  is  the  way  in  which  the  Mediation 
and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  are  usually  affirmed  to  be  exer- 
cised :  and  how  is  such  a  representation  likely  to  act,  in  recon- 
ciling, or  otherwise,  the  Deist,  to  those  Scriptures,  as  a  divine 
revelation  which,  as  he  is  informed,  present  one  of  their  principal 
doctrines  under  such  an  aspect  as  this  ?  Is  the  Infidel  likely,  or 
otherwise,  to  be  deprived  of  his  weapons  for  assaulting  the 
Christian's  belief  in  the  Word  of  God  as  truly  his  Word,  when 
he  is  assured  that  this  is  the  form  in  which  it  exhibits  a  doctrine, 
accounted  as  one  of  the  most  essential  of  the  distinguishing 
doctrines  of  the  gospel, — that  of  the  Meditation  and  Intercession 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  I  am  not  unacquainted  with  the 
efforts  which  have  been  made,  with  the  best  intentions,  to  com- 
bine the  doctrine  of  divine  wrath  with  that  of  divine  love,  and  to 
show  that,  in  Deity,  both  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  harmonize 
with  each  other :  but  certainly,  when  the  Mediation  and  Inter- 
cession of  Jesus  Christ  are  insisted  on,  in  the  manner  just  stated, 
all  the  love  which  is  exhibited  is  confined  to  the  Intercessor, — 
the  Son, — and  no  other  love  is  displayed  in  the  Being  interceded 
with — the  Father, — but  love  for  his  Son  properly  so  'called, — 
none  for  his  rational  creatures  who  derive  their  relationship 
solely  from  having  been  called  by  Him  into  existence,  and  framed 
in  his  image  and  likeness.  It  is  only  through  love  for  his  Only- 
begotten  Son,  and  compassion  for  his  sufferings,  and  as  moved 
by  his  love  to  mankind,  and  by  his  passionate  entreaties  in  their 
behalf,  that  the  Father  consents  to  be  reconciled  at  all.  But  what 
are  the  feelings  thus  ascribed  to  the  Fountain  of  Deity  but  such 
as  are  of  the  most  grossly  natural  and  merely  carnal  description  ? 
The  love  of  a  parent  for  his  child  is,  indeed,  a  most  amiable  affec- 
tion, yet  it  is  an  affection  of  the  natural  man,  which,  consequently, 
no  human  being  is  naturally  without:  to  be  destitute  of  it,  then,  is 
an  argument  of  the  most  extreme  depravity.     Therefore  the 


266 


LECTURE  XVII. 


Apostle,  in  describing  the  excess  of  wickedness  which  prevailed 
among  mankind  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's  first  advent  [Rom.  1. 
31],  and  the  similar  depravity  which,  he  states,  would  prevail  in 
"  the  last  days,"  or  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's  second  advent  [2 
Tim.  iii.  3],  mentions,  as  one  of  the  grand  characteristic  marks 
of  such  a  state,  that  they  were,  and  would  be,  "  without  natural 
affection ;  where  the  term  employed  in  the  original  is  that 
which  signifies  the  peculiarly  powerful  and  tender  love,  which 
naturally  exists  between  parents  and  children,  especially  on  the 
part  of  the  parents.  This  natural  affection  in  human  beings  is 
common  to  them  with  animals,  and  is  not  at  all  stronger  than 
we  continually  behold  it  in  them  ;  and  human  beings,  we  see,  are 
sometimes  without  it  (never,  indeed,  by  nature,  but  often  through 
all-engrossing  selfishness  and  the  pursuit  of  sinful  lusts)  ;  whereas 
animals  never  are.  To  possess  it,  then,  even  in  the  most  power- 
ful degree,  does  not,  alone,  raise  a  human  being  to  the  rank  of  a 
man ;  but  to  want  it,  sinks  him  below  the  brutes.  "What  then 
should  we  think  of  a  being  in  human  form,  in  whom  this  was 
the  only  amiable  feeling  ;  who  loved  his  children,  but  who  loved 
neither  man  nor  animal  beside  ;  and  who  never  would  act  with 
kindness — with  anything  short  of  extreme  harshness — to  any, 
when  once  they  had  offended  him,  except  at  the  entreaty  of  a 
favorite  child?  Should  we  not  say  of  such  a  person,  that  even 
his  love  of  his  child  was  only  a  form  of  his  all-engrossing  love  of 
himself,  and  thus  that  no  real  principle  of  benevolence  existed  in 
his  character? 

Some,  perhaps,  may  not  be  aware,  though  the  fact  is  obvious, 
in  regard  to  persons  who  are  wholly  engrossed  by  self-love,  and 
with  whom,  consequently,  the  promotion  of  their  own  authority, 
influence,  and  interest,  is  the  only  object  of  pursuit,  that  when 
they  love  their  children,  it  is  only  because  they  identify  them 
with  themselves.  They  view  themselves  in  them,  and  think  of 
them  altogether  as  part  of  themselves  ;  and  therefore  they  love 
them.  But  let  the  children  of  such  parents,  when  they  grow  up, 
act  in  away  that  frustrate  their  selfish  views  respecting  them, — 
as,  for  instance,  by  disposing  of  themselves  in  marriage  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  defeat  the  schemes  of  their  parents  for  the  ag- 
grandizement of  their  family, —  and  how  speedily  does  such  paren- 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  267 


tal  love  discover  its  true  nature,  as  nothing  but  a  form  of  the  love 
of  self,  by  changing  into  inexorable  resentment !  The  essence  of 
all  genuine  love,  and  especially  of  the  Divine  Love,  is  beautifully 
defined,  in  the  doctrines  which  we  regard  as  those  of  the  True 
Christian  religion,  to  consist  in  loving  others,  who  are  without,  or 
quite  distinct  from,  onesself,  in  desiring  to  be  one  with  them, 
and  to  make  them  happy  from  onesself:  but,  evidently,  there  is 
nothing  but  the  opposite  of  this, — thus,  nothing  but  what  is 
essentially  contrary  to  Divine  Love, — in  a  principle,  which  only 
loves  another,  not  as  distinct  from  itself,  put  as  part  of  itself, — 
thus  in  the  parent,  who  only  loves  his  child,  because  he  views  him- 
self in  it.  There  is  then  little  to  admire  or  to  love  in  a  person, 
whose  affection  for  his  offspring,  extending  no  further,  is  only 
the  love  of  himself.  It  is  then  a  principle  which  allies  him  with 
hell,  but  does  not  at  all  tend  to  associate  him  with  heaven. 

I  have  here  only  hinted  at  the  parallel  in  view.  The  whole 
might  be  easily  carried  much  further,  but  on  account  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  subject,  in  itself,  of  the  Lord's  Mediation  and  In- 
tercession, I  forbear  to  expose,  more  minutely,  the  misrepresen- 
tations attached  to  it, — especially  as  we  shall  have  to  advert  to  kin- 
dred topics  in  a  subsequent  Lecture.  I  will  only  ask,  again,  what 
would  be  our  opinion  of  a  human  being — of  a  sovereign,  suppose, 
who  had  the  destinies  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  an  immense  em- 
pire in  his  hands, — who  loved  himself  in  his  immediate  offspring, 
but  loved  no  one  else ;  and  who,  though  he  abstained  from  de- 
voting, as  he  purposed,  all  his  people  to  destruction,  only  did  so 
at  the  intreaty  of  a  darling  son  ;  whilst  even  his  son  was  unable 
to  urge  his  "intercession"  with  effect,  till  be  had  caused  to  be 
inflicted  on  himself  all  that  his  incensed  parent  had  purposed  to 
inflict  on  all  his  subjects  ;  and  then  excited  the  paternal  com- 
passion for  himself,  and  obtained  compliance  with  his  intreaties 
for  them,  by  displaying  his  bleeding  wounds  ? 

Brethren,  is  not  this  an  exact  picture  of  the  Mediation  and 
Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  with  his  Father,  as  commonly  pre- 
sented in  the  doctrines  of  the  day  ?  But  do  you  recognise  in 
it  a  just  portrait  of  Him,  who  is  justly  denominated  "the  Father 
of  mercies  ?  Does  it  acknowledge  in  Him  any  love  but  self- 
love,  which  is  most  essentially  infernal  ?    Does  it  ascribe  to  Him 


LECTURE  XVII. 


a  particle  of  truly  Divine  love,  according  to  the  indisputable  de- 
finition of  it  just  recited  ?  If  not,  can  it  be  a  just  representation 
of  the  Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  doctrine 
is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures  of  Truth?  And  if  the  Scriptures  of 
Truth,  so  accounted,  did  in  reality  exhibit  the  subject  as  thus 
generally  taught,  would  there  not  be  some  excuse  for  the  Sceptic 
who  should  question  their  right  to  that  title,  and  refuse  to  accept 
them  as  a  Divine  Revelation  ?  If  then  a  view  of  the  subject  has 
been  opened  among  mankind  which  is  quite  free  from  every 
taint  of  such  merely  carnal  notions, — which  adores  the  Eternal 
Father  as  truly  "  the  Father  of  mercies," — which  fully  clears  the 
Word  of  God  from  countenancing  such  incredibilities  of  perver- 
sion, and  restores  it  to  its  true  dignity  as  a  revelation  of  Eternal 
Truth  ; — is  it  not  supremely  important  that  it  should  be  listened 
to  with  attention  and  candour,  and  allowed  to  go  forward  on 
its  elevated  mission,  of  arresting  the  desolating  progress  of  Infi- 
delity in  the  world,  and  establishing  the  believers  in  Christianity 
in  a  position,  where  no  shafts  drawn  from  the  arsenals  of  true 
reason  can  be  aimed  against  their  faith,  and  where  all  other 
weapons  must  fall  blunted  to  the  ground  ? 

I  have  deemed  it  needless  to  say  anything  to  demonstrate, 
that  such  a  view  of  the  doctrine  of  Mediation  and  Intercession 
as  we  have  noticed,  being  the  view  of  it  which  is  presented  in 
the  prevailing  systems  of  theology,  is  inconsistent,  both  with 
the  belief  of  the  Absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Person  and 
Essence,  and  with  that  of  the  Supreme  Divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  for  that  which  is  obvious  of  itself,  cannot  be  made  more 
so  by  any  demonstration.  And  what  can  be  more  obvious  of 
itself,  than  that,  as  exhibited  in  the  customary  doctrine,  the  Son 
who  intercedes,  and  the  Father  to  whom  his  intercession  is  di- 
rected,— the  Son  who,  filled  with  love  for  mankind,  solicits  for- 
giveness for  them,  and  the  Father  who,  incensed  against  them, 
only  forgives  them  at  the  Son's  intreaty, — the  Son  who,  having 
voluntarily  submitted  to  the  death  and  torments  decreed  against 
transgressing  man,  pleads  the  merits  of  his  sufferings  with  his 
Father  to  move  him  to  have  mercy,  and  the  Father,  whose  jus- 
tice and  wrath  are  such  as  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  show 
mercy  till  the  penalties  they  demand  of  sinning  man  have 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  269 

been  inflicted  on  his  innocent  Son : — I  say,  what  can  be  more 
self-evident,  than  that  the  Father  and  Son,  thus  represented, 
are  not  one,  but  two  completely  distinct  Beings,  the  attributes 
of  the  one  being  the  antipodes  of  those  of  the  other,  and  whom , 
therefore,  it  would  be  a  contradiction  in  terms  to  designate  as 
together  one  God,  in  whom  is  an  absolute  Unity  of  Essence  ? 
Still  less,  if  less  be  possible,  can  they  be  One  in  Person.  It  is 
true,  that  the  advocates  of  this  system  acknowledge,  and  insist, 
that  they  are  not  one  in  Person.  We  have  proved,  in  former 
Lectures,  that  they  are;  but,  waiving  this  for  the  present,  the 
upholders  of  the  doctrine  in  question  maintain,  that,  though  two 
Persons,  Supreme  Divinity  belongs  to  them  both.  But  is  it  not 
here,  again,  self-evident,  and  therefore  a  fact  which  needs  no 
other  demonstration  to  prove  it,  that  he  who  supplicates  and 
intreats,  and  who  submits  to  such  extremities  of  suffering  to 
obtain  a  favorable  hearing  to  his  intercessions,  cannot,  if  a 
Divine  Person  at  all,  be  a  God  of  the  same  rank  as  He,  to 
whom  the  intercessions  are  made,  and  to  conciliate  whom  the 
sufferings  are  undergone  and  pleaded  ?  To  admit  such  a  notion, 
we  must  have  recourse,  with  the  ancient  Polytheists,  to  the 
imagination  of  degrees  of  Divinity, — of  lesser  and  greater 
Deities ;  which  imagination,  totally  excluding  the  idea  of  In- 
finity, abolishes  the  notion  of  real  or  absolute  Divinity  altogether. 

Again,  then,  we  see,  that  such  a  mode  of  representing  the 
Mediation  and  Intercession  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  cannot 
possibly  be  the  true  one.  If  it  could  be  proved  to  be  the  mode 
in  which  it  is  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures,  this  would  only  prove 
the  Scriptures  to  be  at  variance,  not  merely  with  Reason,  but 
with  themselves  ;  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Supreme  Divinity  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  it  so  irreconcilably  impugns,  is 
demonstrably  a  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  that  of  the 
Absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Essence  and  Person,  which  it 
diametrically  contradicts,  is  equally  a  doctrine  of  Revelation  and 
of  Reason.  Nothing  then  can  be  more  necessary,  to  the  vindi- 
cation of  the  Bible  and  the  stability  of  the  Christian  Religion, 
than  the  view  presented  by  the  True  Christian  Religion  of  the 
nature  of  the  Lord's  Mediation  and  Intercession  should  be 
known,  harmonizing,  as  it  does,  both  with  Reason  and  with 


270 


LECTURE  XVII. 


Revelation,  and  affording,  to  the  sincere  and  consistent  disciples 
of  both,  all  that  is  required  for  their  satisfaction. 

The  true  doctrine,  then,  of  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  is 
no  other  than  that  which  was  delivered,  without  expressly  calling 
it  by  that  name,  in  our  Lecture  on  The  Reasonableness,  as  well 
as  Scripture  Evidence,  of  the  important  truth,  that  the  Assumption 
of  Humanity  into  God,  instead  of  limiting  the  Divine  Infinity  and 
Omnipotence,  afforded  the  means  of  their  more  full  Manifestation 
and  Exercise.  There  could  be  no  communication  between  God, 
incomprehensible,  to  finite  apprehensions  and  capacities,  as,  in 
his  Infinite  Essence,  He  must  necessarily  be, — and  man,  a  crea- 
ture, and  especially  as  a  fallen  creature,  at  all, — had  not  God 
put  forth,  from  "  the  beginning,"  his  Word,  and  had  not  this 
Word,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  been  "  made  flesh  ;"  and  it  is 
the  Word  made  flesh,  and  glorified,  of  the  Divine  Humanity  of 
Jesus  Christ,  not  as  a  separate  Deity,  but  as  the  Manifested 
Form  of  the  Essential  Divinity,  truly  One  Person  with  the 
Father  as  the  body  of  man  is  one  person  with  his  soul,  that  is 
the  Mediator ;  and  his  mediation  consists,  not  in  supplicating 
the  Father  in  man's  behalf,  but  in  bringing  down  saving  in- 
fluences and  graces  from  God  to  man,  and  opening  to  man  a 
way  of  access  to  his  God. 

Allow  me,  instead  of  repeating  the  same  thing  in  different 
words,  to  recite  two  or  three  short  passages  from  the  Lecture 
just  referred  to,  in  which  the  doctrine  is  placed,  I  humbly  appre- 
hend, in  the  light  of  genuine  truth. 

"  In  order  that  the  soul  of  man  may  exercise  an  operation, 
and  express  its  sentiments,  in  the  natural  world,  it  must  be  in- 
vested with  the  natural  organs  of  speech  and  action,  which  are 
supplied  to  its  use  by  the  natural  body.  It  must,  in  fact,  be 
clothed  over  with  an  encompassing  veil,  as  a  medium  for  bringing 
its  sentiments,  feelings,  and  exertions,  within  the  apprehension 
of  other  beings  in-  a  natural  state  of  existence.  So,  it  may 
easily  be  seen,  must  the  Father  of  spirits,  the  Infinite  and 
Eternal,  cloth  Himself  in  like  manner  with  something  answer- 
ing to  a  human  body,  before  his  life,  and  especially  his  divine 
perfections,  can  be  brought  into  a  ibrra,  capable  of  being  re- 
ceived, and  in  any  degree  apprehended,  either  by  angels  or 
men." 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  271 

"  The  Word  of  the  Lord  which  made  the  heavens,  is  the 
Divine  Truth,  proceeding  as  a  spiritual  emanation  from  Him. 
That  it  does  not  signify  a  mere  word  spoken,  is  evident  from  the 
manner  in  which  the  same  thing  is  stated  in  the  beginning 
of  John  :  1  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was 
with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God. — By  him  were  all  things 
made,  and  without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  which  was 
made.'  This  evidently  implies,  that  the  Word  by  which  were 
made  the  heavens  and  all  things,  was  not  a  mere  speech  or  com- 
mand, which  was  ended  as  soon  as  uttered,  but  was  a  substantial 
(not  material)  emanation  from  the  inmost  of  Deity,  conveying 
divine  things  into  a  sphere  below  their  origin,  and  thus  pro- 
ducing the  wonders  of  creation  and  imparting  life,  both  natural 
and  spiritual,  to  the  things  created ;  according  to  what  is  said 
in  the  same  passage  of  John ;  1  In  him  was  life,  and  the  life  was 
the  light  of  men.'  Thus  this  emanating  life  was,  in  a  manner, 
to  the  Divine  Essence,  what  the  body  of  man  is  to  his  soul, — 
the  medium  by  which  the  soul  makes  itself  apprehensible,  and 
produces  effects,  in  a  sphere  below  that  in  which' itself  is 
stationed." 

Now  "if  the  Word  by  which  the  heavens  were  made  was  not, 
as  we  have  seen  in  former  Lectures,  a  Divine  Person  separate 
from  the  Divine  Essence,  but  an  emanation,  of  the  nature,  com- 
paratively, of  a  Divine  Body,  with  which  God  encompassed 
Himself  to  apply  Himself  to  the  necessities  of  his  creatures 
before  the  time  arrived  for  his  actual  assumption  of  Humanity, 
is  there  the  least  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Word  made  flesh  is 
any  more  a  separate  Being,  or  can  be  any  other  than  the  Mani- 
fested Form  of  the  One  Divine  Essence,  put  forth  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  meet  the  wants  of  man  when  sunk  almost  entirely 
into  the  natural  state  of  existence,  and  in  imminent  danger  of 
perishing  altogether?"  We  find  from  the  Scripture-records,  as 
shown  in  the  Lecture  which  I  am  quoting,  "  that  as  man  passed 
through  various  states  of  declension,  God  followed  him  with  new 
dispensations  of  truth  and  grace,  and  varied  manifestations  of 
his  own  name  and  nature.  And  finally,  when  the  fulness  of 
time  had  arrived,  or  when  man  had  descended  into  such  a  state 
as  to  render  all  other  modes  of  operation  for  his  welfare  in- 


272 


LECTURE  XVII. 


effectual, — to  carry  on  and  complete  the  grand  scheme  of  Divine 
Mercy, '  the  Word  was  made  flesh,' — the  Divine  Essence  clothed 
itself  with  humanity  such  as  it  is  with  men  in  the  world  ;  and, 
having  perfectly  purified  and  glorified  the  humanity  assumed, 
the  Divinity  united  it  to  itself,  as  a  Medium  for  conveying  the 
influences  of  his  love  and  wisdom  to  man  in  a  form  perfectly 
adapted  to  his  state."  And  this  is  what  the  Apostle  teaches  in 
the  first  portion  of  our  text,  when  he  says,  "  There  is  one  God, 
and  one  Mediator  between  God  and  Man,  the  Man  Christ  Jesus." 
Why  does  he  here  use  a  mode  of  expression  which  he  employs 
nowhere  else,  and  say,  "the  Man  Christ  Jesus?"  To  instruct 
us,  that  it  is  as  to  his  Human  Nature,  and  not  as  to  his  essen- 
tially Divine  Nature,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Mediator :  in  other 
words,  that  it  is  as  to  his  Divine  Humanity,  and  not  as  to  his 
Essential  Divinity,  that  he  sustains  this  office ;  and  few  will 
affirm  that  his  Humanity  is  a  distinct  person  by  itself;  and  if 
not,  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ  must  be  exercised  according 
to  the  manner  in  which  a  man's  body  mediates,  or  acts  as  a  me- 
dium ofcommunication,  between  his  soul  and  persons  and  things 
around  him, — not  after  the  manner  in  which  one  person  mediates, 
or  acts  as  a  medium,  between  two  other  parties. 

Thus  viewed,  then,  we  see,  there  is  nothing  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ  which  in  the  least  militates 
against  the  all  important  doctrine  of  the  Absolute  Unity  of  the 
Godhead,  both  in  Essence  and  in  Person.  And  it  is  equally  in 
harmony  with, — in  fact,  it  assumes  or  supposes, — that  other 
fundamental  truth,  that  Love  is  the  primary  essential  of  the 
Divine  Nature. 

We  will  illustrate  this  part  of  the  subject  by  adverting  once 
again  to  the  sacrifices  of  the  Levitical  law.  Requesting,  then, 
that  what  was  offered  in  regard  to  the  Levitical  Sacrifices  in  our 
Lecture  respecting  them  may  be  borne  in  mind,  allow  me  to 
offer  an  explanation  of  a  few  other  particulars  connected  with 
them.  As  we  have  seen,  in  that  Lecture,  that  those  sacrifices, 
rightly  understood,  eminently  illustrate  the  true  nature  of  the 
Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  do  they  equally  throw  light  on  that 
of  his*  Mediation. 

In  reference  to  the  whole  burnt  offerings,  which,  as  we  have 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  273 

seen,  represent  the  dedication  of  the  whole  man  to  the  Lord,  it 
is  directed  [Lev.  i.  5],  that  "the  priests,  Aaron's  sons,  shall 
bring  the  blood,  and  sprinkle  the  blood  round  about  upon  the 
altar."  The  altar,  according  to  the  doctrines  which  we  accept 
as  those  of  the  true  Christian  religion,  as  being  a  sort  of  table 
on  which  the  things  offered  in  sacrifice  were  presented  by  the 
offerer,  and  were  received,  as  it  were,  by  the  Lord,  was  represen- 
tative of  that  to  which  man  looks,  and  on  which  he  relies,  for 
acceptance  by  the  Lord,  and  from  which  the  Lord,  on  his  part, 
graciously  accepts  the  worship  which  he  offers ;  and  this  is,  and 
can  be,  no  other  than  the  Lord's  Divine  Love.  Thus,  also,  the 
altar  is  representative  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  it  being 
only  in,  and  by,  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  that  man  can  have 
any  approach  to,  or  acceptance  with,  the  infinitely  pure  and  holy 
God  :  or,  to  speak,  perhaps,  more  distinctly,  the  altar,  on  which 
the  sacrifices  were  offered  and  received,  is  an  emblem  of  the 
Lord's  Divine  Love,  as  manifested,  and  accommodated  to  man's 
apprehension,  in  his  Divine  Humanity.  According  to  which 
view  of  the  subject,  it  must  be  obvious,  that  although  the  New 
Church  sees  to  be  utterly  groundless  the  notions  about  the  sa- 
crifice of  Jesus  Christ,  as  consisting  in  his  death  on  the  cross, 
viewed  as  the  punishment  for  man's  sins  literally  inflicted  on  Him 
in  the  way  of  positive  substitution  ;  yet  the  New  Church,  more 
than  any  other  body  of  professing  Christians,  has  most  exalted 
ideas  of  the  mercy  displayed,  and  the  inestimable  benefits  con- 
ferred on  man,  in  the  assumption  of  Humanity  by  Jehovah  in 
the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  in  the  glorification  of 
the  Humanity  so  assumed — its  perfect  assimilation  to  the  Essen- 
tial Divinity  and  union  therewith,  in  which,  really  and  truly,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  consisted.  It  was  thus 
that  the  Divine  Love  condescended  to  human  infirmity, — that 
the  Infinite  God  made  himself  accessible  to,  and  conceivable  by, 
finite  and  fallen  man,  both  enabling  man  to  approach  him  with 
a  reasonable  and  acceptable  service, — the  service  of  true  peni- 
tence and  humble  love, — and  putting  himself  in  the  attitude 
towards  man  of  forgiveness  and  acceptance.  How  then,  thus 
viewing  Him,  ought  our  hearts  ever  to  overflow  with  love  and 
adoration  towards  this  all-gracious  and  Saviour-God  !  how  ought 
18 


274 


lecture  xvii. 


we  to  bring  our  bullock  or  our  sheep — the  affections  of  innocence 
and  charity,  as  adapted  both  to  the  external  and  to  the  internal 
man,  and  slaughter  it — or  pour  out  its  blood, — before  the  Lord, 
and  cause  the  priests,  Aaron's  sons,  to  bring  the  blood,  and 
sprinkle  it  upon  the  altar  round  about ! 

The  priests,  Aaron's  sons,  are,  again,  representatives  of  the 
Lord  as  to  his  divine  love,  but  as  to  his  divine  love  as  dwelling 
in  the  interiors  of  man  himself,  or  as  abiding  in  man  by  his 
Spirit.  For  nothing  can  possibly  approach  the  Lord  for  man, 
minister  for  him,  as  it  were,  in  his  worship,  and  cause  his  im- 
perfect endeavours  to  serve  the'Lord  aright  to  be  accepted,  but 
what  is  of  the  Lord  himself,  yea,  what  is  the  Lord  himself  as 
dwelling  in  man.  No  doubt  the  operation  or  mediation  of  the 
priests,  in  the  sacrifices  presented  by  the  children  of  Israel,  re- 
presented exactly  what  is  spoken  of  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  when  he 
says  [Rom.  viii.  26,  27],  "Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our 
infirmities :  for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  we 
ought:  but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us  with 
groanings  that  cannot  be  uttered.  And  he  that  searcheth  the 
hearts  knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because  he 
maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the  will  of  God." 
No  doubt  the  office  of  the  Jewish  priests,  in  acting  as  mediums, 
when  sacrifices  were  presented,  and  on  other  occasions,  between 
the  people  and  the  Lord,  represented  the  real  "  work  of  the 
Spirit,"  as  thus  described  by  the  Apostle — the  presentation  of 
man's  desires,  in  worship,  to  the  Lord,  by  the  Lord  himself  as 
dwelling  in  man  :  and  the  Lord,  regarded  as  dwelling  in  man  or 
in  any  finite  subject,  conforming  him  to  his  own  will,  and  ren- 
dering him  such  as  his  infinite  holiness  can  accept  with  compla- 
cency, is  what  the  Scripture  calls  the  Holy  Spirit.  That  which 
essentially  mediates  with  man,  and  intercedes  in  his  behalf,  is 
the  Lord's  own  divine  love.  It  is  obvious,  that  it  can  be  nothing 
but  divine  love  in  the  Lord  from  which  man  can  be  received,  for- 
given, and  have  his  imperfect  endeavours  accepted,  by  Him.  It 
is  the  Lord's  own  love  that  makes  excuses  for  him,  as  it  were, 
overlooks  and  supplies  his  short  comings,  mitigates,  so  to  speak, 
the  rigour  of  the  requirements  of  the  Divine  Truth,  which,  if 
separated  from  Divine  Love,  would  condemn  all,  and  accepts 


THE  MEDIATION'  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  275 


sincerity  instead  of  perfection.  This  office  and  operation  of  the 
Lord's  divine  love,  in  and  for  man,  is  what  is  represented  by  the 
mediation  of  the  priests,  and  what  they  did  for  the  offerer,  in  the 
presenting  of  sacrifices. 

The  first  thing  that  the  priests  did  was,  to  "  bring  the  blood, 
and  sprinkle  the  blood  round  about  upon  the  altar."  Here 
again  would  be  ample  opportunity  of  contrasting  what  is  really 
said  about  sacrifices,  with  the  notions  commonly  entertained  of 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  comparing  what  is 
divinely  said  of  the  blood  of  the  sacrifices  with  what  is  popularly 
said  about  the  blood  of  Christ ;  but  we  treated  of  this  sufficiently 
in  our  last  Lecture. 

Blood,  as  was  then  shown,  is  constantly  mentioned  in  the 
Holy  Word  as  a  symbol  of  Divine  Truth.  The  blood  here, 
being  that  of  the  sacrifices,  which  represented  the  worship 
of  the  Lord  from  heavenly  affections  and  true  perceptions  re- 
ceived by  man  from  Him,  must  signify  the  Divine  Truth  as  abid- 
ing in  the  mind  of  the  worshipper.  Divine  Truth  is  the  medium 
by  which  all  the  regeneration  of  man  is  effected,  which  consists 
in  his  purification  from  evils,  and  in  the  implantation  in  his 
heart  and  mind  of  genuine  principles  of  goodness  and  truth  by 
the  Lord.  It  is  Divine  Truth  which  instructs  man  as  to  the 
existence  and  person,  the  will  and  works,  of  the  Lord,  by  whom 
he  is  to  be  saved, — that  teaches  him  what  is  good  and  right, 
and  how  he  is  to  live  that  he  may  obtain  salvation  ;  and  when  he 
has  acquired  a  knowledge  of  these  things,  and  not  before,  the 
genuine  affection  or  love  for  the  good  with  which  he  is  thus 
made  acquainted  can  be  implanted  in  his  breast,  and  thus  his 
regeneration  may  proceed  to  completion.  The  completion  of,  at 
least,  some  decisive  state  in  the  regenerative  process,  is  what  was 
represented  by  those  sacrifices  called  burnt  offerings,  in  which 
the  whole  of  the  sacrifice  was  burnt  upon  the  altar  ;  and,  finally, 
the  completion  of  the  regeneration  of  the  whole  man  ;  whence, 
as  we  showed  in  our  two  Lectures  upon  the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus 
Christ,  they  represented,  in  their  highest  signification,  the  com- 
pletion of  the  glorification  of  his  Humanity.  Regeneration  is 
completed  as  to  the  whole,  and  as  to  the  more  general  grand  de- 
grees or  stages  of  it,  when  a  perfect  union  is  effected,  in  the 


LECTURE  XVII. 


mind,  of  goodness  and  truth  ;  when  what  man  knows,  and  sees, 
he  equally  loves,  and  delights  to  exhibit  in  his  actions.  And  a 
perfect  or  entire  union  of  truth  with  goodness  is  what  is  repre- 
sented by  th  e  command,  to  sprinkle  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice 
upon  the  altar  round  about — the  altar  signifying  Divine  Good. 
When  a  union  is  effected,  in  the  mind,  of  goodness  and  truth, 
there  is  effected,  at  the  same  time,  the  conjunction  of  man  with 
the  Lord  ;  which  also  is  represented  by  the  sprinkling  of  the 
blood  of  the  sacrifice  round  about  the  altar — the  altar,  in  this 
application  denoting  the  Lord  as  to  his  Divine  Love  in  his  Di- 
vine Humanity.  The  truth,  indeed,  which  man  receives  from  the 
Lord,  and  which  he  learns  originally  by  means  of  the  Holy 
Word,  is  never  properly  his  own,  any  more  than  the  Holy  Word 
itself  is  his  own.  It  is  of  the  Lord,  with,  and  in  him  :  and  when 
he  has  allowed  it  to  effect  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  graciously 
bestowed,  he  heartily  ascribes  it  all  to  its  Divine  Source,  and  finds 
it  made  the  medium,  through  the  Lord's  divine  goodness,  of 
effecting  a  conjunction  between  his  soul  and  the  Lord.  The 
priests — the  Lord  in  him  as  to  his  Divine  Love, — sprinkle  the 
blood — apply  and  ascribe  the  Divine  Truth  he  had  received, — 
upon  the  altar  round  about — to  the  Lord  as  to  his  Divine  Good 
in  his  Divine  Humanity  :  and  thus  full  conjunction  is  effected, 
both  of  the  man  himself  and  the  Lord,  and  of  truth  and  goodness 
from  the  Lord  in  the  man's  own  mind. 

It  is  observable,  that  the  priests  are  not  simply  designated  as 
priests,  but  are  also  called  "  Aaron's  sons,"  or  "  the  sons  of  Aaron 
the  priest."  The  priests,  as  we  have  just  seen,  are  representa- 
tives of  the  Lord  as  to  his  Divine  Love,  but  considered  more  par- 
ticularly as  dwelling  in  man.  On  this  account,  all  the  actual 
presentation  of  the  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  was  performed  by 
the  priests :  the  offerer  himself  only  executed  the  preparatory 
operations, — the  slaying  of  the  animal,  the  flaying  of  it,  and  the 
cutting  of  it  into  its  pieces :  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood,  the 
placing  of  all  the  parts  of  the  sacrifice  in  due  order  on  the  altar, 
and  the  burning  of  it,  were  performed  by  the  priests  ;  which 
was  to  represent,  that  it  is  only  from  the  activity  of  the  Lord, 
as  dwelling  in  man  by  his  Spirit,  that  any  real  worship  can  be 
offered  to  Him ;  and  the  priests  represent  the  Lord  as  to  his 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  277 

Divine  Love,  because  it  is  only  the  Lord's  Divine  Love  that 
intercedes  for  man, — that  draws  forth  that  which  is  in  him 
from  the  Lord,  by  virtue  of  which  he  is  capable,  in  any  way,  of 
really  worshipping  his  God  and  Saviour, — that  mitigates  the 
requirements  of  strict  Divine  Truth  (from  a  mistaken  apprehen- 
sion of  which  have  originated  the  common  notions  about  the 
terrors  of  the  law  and  its  inexorable  nature),  overlooks  his  im- 
perfections, and  accepts  bis  humble,  if  sincere,  endeavors. 
Though  this  is  the  office  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Love,  that  prin- 
ciple, in  Him,  is,  nevertheless,  not  Love  alone,  but  Love  in 
union  with  Truth.  Divine  Love,  could  it  exist  alone,  would 
draw  all  to  heaven  without  distinction  ;  even  hell  would  be 
emptied  of  its  inhabitants,  and  they  would  all  be  transferred 
into  heaven,  were  it  possible  for  Divine  Love  to  exist,  and  act 
alone.  But  though  the  infinite  ardour  and  tenderness  of  Divine 
Love  would  draw  all  to  heaven,  it  cannot  alone,  qualify  them  to 
exist  there.  Could  evil,  and  evil  spirits — infernals  in  whom  evil 
is  the  reigning  principle  and  continually  lusts  to  destroy, — 
be  admitted  among  the  angels,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  confusion 
and  destruction  must  be  the  inevitable  consequence.  To  pre- 
pare any  beings  to  exist  in  heaven,  not  only  must  Love  draw 
them,  but  Truth  must  purify  them,  must  remove  their  evils  from 
them,  and  so  make  them  actual  recipients  of  the  Lord's  Divine 
Love.  On  the  other  hand,  could  truth  exist  in  the  Lord,  and 
act,  alone,  even  the  angels  would  be  banished  from  heaven.  No 
finite  creature  can  possibly  come  up  to  the  standard  of  perfec- 
tion pointed  at  by  pure  Divine  Truth.  Looking  even  at  the 
highest  created  existences  from  this  principle,  as  Job  says  of  the 
Lord,  "  He  chargeth  his  angels  with  folly  ;"  so  that,  if  this 
could  exist  and  act  alone,  none  could  find  refuge  anywhere  but 
in  hell.  Therefore,  in  the  Lord,  Love  and  Truth  are  united,  so 
as  to  be  a  perfect  One.  Truth  directs  the  impulses  of  Love,  and 
Love  mitigates  the  rigour  of  Truth.  Still  their  operations  may 
be  viewed  distinctly.  It  is  Love,  unqestionably,  that  intercedes 
in  the  Divine  Mind  in  behalf  of  man, — that  performs  for  him 
the  office  of  the  priest,  and  causes  his  services  to  be  accepted  by 
the  Lord  :  but  it  is  Truth,  in  union  with  Love,  that  so  purifies 
him  from  evil,  as  to  make  him  capable,  in  any  manner,  of  being 


278 


LECTURE  XVII. 


principled  in  good,  and  of  worshipping  the  Lord  from  the  good 
thus  received  from  Him.  To  express  both,  the  priests  are  con- 
tinually called  "  Aaron's  sons,"  or  "  the  sons  of  Aaron  the 
priest;"  the  term  sons,  in  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Scriptures, 
always  having  relation  to  the  principle  of  truth,  and  priests 
always  denoting,  in  that  sense,  goodness  or  love. 

I  know  not  whether  these  ideas  and  interpretations  may  carry 
conviction  to  those  to  whom  they  are  new,  but,  rightly  under- 
stood and  appreciated,  they  tend,  as  it  appears  to  me,  greatly  to 
elucidate  the  nature,  and  the  doctrine,  of  the  Mediation  and 
Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ.  That  which  properly  intercedes 
for  man,  is  the  Lord's  Divine  Love;  and  that  which  makes  man 
receptive  of  it  in  himself,  is  the  Lord's  Divine  Truth.  But  in 
their  absolute  nature,  as  they  exist  in  the  Inmost  of  Deity,  Divine 
Love  is  immensely  too  ardent  and  burning,  and  Divine  Truth 
too  dazzling  and  blinding,  to  be  capable  of  reception  by  any 
finite  beings.  Therefore  in  order  to  creation  itself,  God  veiled 
over  the  causticity  and  splendour  of  the  fire  of  his  Love  which 
is  Love  in  union  with  Wisdom,  with  a  Medium  suitable  to  adapt 
it  for  reception;  which  Medium  is  the  Divine  Logos, — "the 
Word,"  which  "in  the  beginning  was  with  God,  and  which  was 
God," — by  which  "all  things  were  made,  and  without  which 
was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made," — "  in  which  was  life, 
which  life  was  the  light  of  men."  And  when  man  had  sunk  so 
low  that  even  the  light  and  life  of  this  Divine  Logos  could  no 
longer  reach  and  affect  him  in  a  saving  manner,  "the  Word 
was  made  flesh," — God  invested  himself  with  Humanity,  which 
He  glorified,  deified,  or  assimilated  in  nature  to,  and  perfectly 
united  with,  his  inmost  Divine  Essence,  so  as  to  be  One  Person 
therewith  as  the  body  is  one  person  with  the  soul.  This  Divine 
Humanity  is  what  is  properly  called  the  Mediator  ;  and  the 
operation  of  this  Divine  Humanity,  in  restoring  the  communi- 
cation of  God  with  Man  and  of  Man  with  God, — conveying,  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  thence  given,  saving  graces  from  God  to  Man, 
and,  by  regeneration,  creating  man  anew  in  the  image  and  like- 
ness of  God, — is  the  work  of  the  Lord's  Mediation. 

I  have,  as  yet,  scarcely  adverted  to  any  of  the  passages  of 
Scripture  which  speak  expressly  of  the  Mediation  and  Interces- 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  279 

sion  of  Jesus  Christ  under  those  names  :  we  will  complete,  there- 
fore, this  discussion  in  another  Lecture,  devoted  to  the  more 
direct  consideration  of  the  Scripture  testimony.  But,  I  would 
fain  hope,  the  doctrine  itself  has  already  been  stated  with  suffi- 
cient clearness,  and  established  by  sufficient  evidence.  A  doc- 
trine has  been  presented,  which  neither  impugns  the  pure  Love 
of  the  Father,  the  Supreme  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  nor  the 
Absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Essence  and  Person.  It  exhibits 
the  Divine  Love  of  our  Heavenly  Father  as  the  primary  principle 
which  mediates  with  Him  for  man,  without  any  wrath  as  a  prin- 
ciple that  demands  a  separate  Mediator.  It  was  his  Love  that 
sent  forth  his  Logos  "in  the  beginning,"  to  produce  recipient 
subjects  and  replenish  them  with  his  gifts.  It  was  from  his 
Love  that,  when  the  crisis  of  man's  fate  required,  for  his  salva- 
tion, and  even  his  continued  existence,  such  an  intervention, 
"the  Word  was  made  flesh."  "God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
He  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  (the  Divine  Humanity  thus  de- 
veloped from  the  Inmost  of  Deity),  that  whosoever  believeth  on 
Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  [John  iii.  16]. 
Thus  the  Mediator  is  not  a  separate  Person  from  Him  who 
gave  Him  for  our  salvation,  but  is  the  Manifestation  of  Him- 
self in  a  Form  capable  of  being  apprehended  by  those  whom 
He  came  to  save.  "  And  of  his  fulness  have  all  we  received,  and 
grace  for  grace"  [John  i.  18]. 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


THE  MEDIATION  AND  INTERCESSION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  :  IN  WHAT 
THOSE  OFFICES  CONSIST  ;  AND  HOW  THEY  ARE  IN  AGREEMENT 
WITH  HIS  SUPREME  DIVINITY,  AND  WITH  THE  ABSOLUTE  UNITY 
OF  THE  DIVINE  PERSON  AND  ESSENCE.  AND  SCRIPTURE  STATE- 
MENTS EXPLAINED. 


1  Tim.  iii.  5,  and  Heb.  vii.  25. 

"  There  is  one  God,  and  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man, 
the  man  Christ  Jesus." 

"  Wherefore  he  is  able,  also,  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that 
come  unto  God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever  liveth  to  make  interces- 
sion for  them.'''' 

In  our  last  Lecture  we  considered  the  great  subject  of  the 
Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ,  both  as  represented 
in  the  usual  doctrines  of  the  day,  and  as  really  constituting  a 
doctrine  of  the  True  Christian  Religion.  We  have  been  enabled, 
I  trust,  clearly  to  see,  that,  as  commonly  taught,  the  doctrine 
involves  ideas  which  cannot  possibly  be  true  ;  since  it  not  only 
comprises  the  negation,  and  tends  to  destroy  all  idea,  of  the 
Absolute  Unity  of  God,  by  the  diametrical  contrariety  of  cha- 
racter which  it  supposes  to  exist  between  the  assumed  first 
Person  of  the  Trinity,  called  in  Scripture  the  Father,  and  the 
second,  called  the  Son,  but  actually  divests  the  Father  of  every 
species  of  love  except  love  for  his  own  proper  Son,  and  supposes 
even  this  love — the  natural  love  of  offspring — only  to  exist  in 
the  divine  breast  in  its  most  narrow  and  selfish  form  ;  whilst, 
although  it  assigns  genuine  divine  love  to  the  Son,  displayed  in 
the  most  ardent  desire  for  man's  salvation,  and  readiness  to 
undertake  and  perform  anything  that  can  promote  that  great 
object,  it  strips  Him  of  all  claim  to  Supreme  Divinity,  by  repre- 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  OX  MEDIATION',  &C  EXPLAINED.  281 

senting  Him  as  unable  to  bestow  salvation  of  Himself,  but  only 
to  obtain  the  consent  to  it  of  his  Father  by  the  most  urgent 
intreaty,  and  the  most  extraordinary,  painful,  and  unceasing 
efforts  to  move  him  to  compassion.  Whosoever  looks  at  the 
subject  in  any  degree  of  the  light  of  truth  and  of  free  rationality, 
cannot  but  see  that  such  ideas,  so  far  from  partaking  of  anything 
spiritual,  involve  nothing  but  what  is  most  grossly  natural  and 
carnal ;  and  it  is  obvious  of  itself,  that  merely  natural  and  carnal 
ideas  cannot  be  the  proper  exponents  of  any  doctrine  of  Divine 
Truth.  So  long,  therefore,  as  it  is  believed  that  such  a  form  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
that  in  which  it  is  presented  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  is  im- 
possible to  wonder  that  there  should  be  many,  who,  without 
being  influenced,  as  is  the  case  with  so  great  a  proportion  of  the 
deniers  of  Divine  Revelation,  by  corrupt  motives,  find  it  difficult 
to  believe  in  the  Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God.  Yet,  without 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  there  is  no  salvation.  They  who  reject 
the  Scriptures,  necessarily  reject  all  belief  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ :  and  if  they  become  confirmed  in  such  rejection,  by  an 
immersion,  as  is  the  natural  consequence,  in  the  evils  of  unre- 
generate  nature,  from  which  none  but  He  can  deliver  them, 
what  hope  can  be  cherished  of  their  salvation  ?  How  anxious 
then  should  every  well-disposed  mind  be,  to  assist  in  removing 
the  stumbling  blocks,  which  obstruct  the  way  to  faith  in  the 
written  Word,  and  by  consequence  in  the  living  Word,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ !  How  thankful  to  find  that  while  the  Medi- 
ation and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  is  an  unquestionable  doc- 
trine of  the  Scriptures,  the  real  Scripture-mode  of  presenting 
the  doctrine  is  such,  as  not  only  places  no  stumbling  block  in 
the  way  of  acknowledging  their  divinity,  but  tends  to  establish 
their  right  to  the  title  !  And  surely  this  may  be  said  to  be 
accomplished,  when  we  are  enabled  to  see,  that  according  to 
the  Scriptures,  the  first  Essential  and  primary  Attribute  of 
Deity  ; — the  Divine  Love  Itself,  which  is  such  that  it  ever  burns 
to  draw  all  to  Itself  and  save  them, — is  that  which  primarily 
intercedes  in  man's  behalf ;  so  that  nothing  can  be  more  opposite 
to  truth  than  to  imagine,  that  the  Inmost  of  Deity  needs  to  be 
moved  to  compassion  by  the  intreaties  of  another ;  that,  in  union 


282  LECTURE  XVIII. 

with  the  Divine  Truth,  it  has  ever  been  engaged  in  providing 
suitable  means  and  mediums  for  the  salvation  and  happiness  of 
mankind,  and  for  imparting  to  them  the  aids  and  influences  ne- 
cessary for  rescuing  them  from  evil  and  from  hell,  and  replenish- 
ing them  with  the  gifts  and  graces  in  which  the  Lord  can  dwell 
with  them  ;  that,  finally,  when  nothing  less  would  suffice,  Jeho- 
vah himself,  as  the  Word  or  Divine  Logos,  assumed  Humanity 
in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  therein  wrought  the  work  of  Re- 
demption (the  nature  of  which  has  been  explained  in  our  two 
Lectures  on  that  subject),  and,  when  the  Humanity  was  glorified, 
or  perfectly  united  with  the  Essential  Divinity  as  the  body  to  the 
soul,  communicated  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  the  Divine  Pro- 
ceeding from  the  Divine  Humanity,  and  is  the  Lord  Himself  as 
dwelling  and  operating  in  men  and  in  angels.  This  Divine  Hu- 
manity, then,  of  which  the  proper  name  is  Jesus  Christ,  is,  we 
have  seen,  what  is  termed  the  Mediator,  as  being,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  thence  proceeding,  the  Medium  by  which 
divine  aids  and  spiritual  graces  are  dispensed  to  man,  by  which 
access  is  given  him  to  God,  and  by  which  he  is  rescued  from  his 
evils,  reformed,  regenerated,  and  eternally  saved. 

That  this  is  a  just  view  of  the  Scripture-doctrine  of  the  Media- 
tion and  Intercession  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  has  then,  I  can- 
not but  hope,  been  sufficiently  established  in  our  last  Lecture  ; 
but  as  we  did  not  then  very  particularly  examine  any  of  the 
passages  of  the  Bible  in  which  the  words  "  Mediation"  and  "In- 
tercession"- are  expressly  introduced,  we  are  now  to  go  more  at 
large  into  a  consideration  of  the  Scripture-testimony  on  the 
subject. 

I.  The  most  important  passage  which  anywhere  occurs  that 
applies  the  title  of  "  Mediator"  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  that 
which  forms  the  first  of  the  verses  that  I  have  read  as  a  text, 
from  Paul's  first  Epistle  to  Timothy ;  and  on  this  I  did  offer  a 
few  observations  in  our  last  Lecture,  which,  though  brief,  might 
be  sufficient  to  show,  that  this  very  important  statement  of  the 
Apostle  perfectly  harmonizes  with  the  view  which  was  advocated 
in  that  Lecture  of  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ.  "  There  is 
one  God,  and  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus."    It  has  justly  been  observed,  by  theologians  of 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  283 

high  reputation,  that  nothing  can  be  more  futile  than  to  argue 
from  this  passage,  as  is  done  by  Unitarians,  that  because  the 
Apostle  here  uses  the  words,  "the  Man  Christ  Jesus,"  we  are 
to  understand  Jesus  Christ  to  be  a  man,  and  nothing  more  :  for 
if  he  were  nothing  but  a  man,  what  need  to  speak  of  his  man- 
hood at  all  ?  It  is  said  that  the  Mediator  is  "  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus,"  not  to  teach  that  Jesus  Christ  is  only  a  man,  and  is  not 
God,  but  to  teach  that  it  is  only  as  to  his  Manhood,  or  Human 
Nature,  and  not  as  to  his  Godhead,  or  essentially  Divine  Nature, 
that  He  is  the  Mediator.  If  it  had  been  said  "  there  is  one  Me- 
diator between  God  and  man,  Jesus  Christ,"  the  import  would 
have  been,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Mediator  as  to  his  whole  com- 
pound nature, — as  to  his  Essential  Divinity  as  well  as  his  Divine 
Humanity  :  to  shut  out  this  conclusion,  he  is  called  "the  Man 
Christ  Jesus."  The  meaning  is  the  same  as  when  it  is  said  (Rom. 
i.  3),  that  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  "was  made  of  the  seed  of  David 
according  to  the  flesh  ;"  and  in  another  place  (Rom.  ix.  5),  that  of 
the  Jews  "according  to  the  flesh  Christ  came."  Why  does  the 
Apostle  here  carefully  distinguish,  that  it  was  only  "ac- 
cording to  the  flesh"  that  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  came  of  the 
Jews,  and  of  the  seed  of  David,  except  to  remind  those  to  whom 
he  was  writing,  that,  as  they  well  knew,  he  had  another  nature, 
according  to  which  he  owned  no  relationship  either  to  David  or 
any  other  Jew,  or  any  mortal  man  ;  in  other  words,  that  He  had 
a  Divine  Nature,  as  well  as  a  Human  Nature,  and  that  it  was, 
and  could  be,  only  as  to  the  originally  infirm  human  nature  in- 
herited from  the  mother  that  he  descended  from  the  Jews 
and  from  David  ?  This  is  just  what  He  teaches  Himself, — or 
rather,  is  the  converse  of  what  He  teaches  Himself,  when  He 
said  to  the  Pharisees  (Matt,  xxii.42 — 46),  "What  think  ye  of 
Christ  ?  Whose  Son  is  he  ?  They  say  imto  him,  The  Son  of 
David.  He  saith  unto  them,  How  then  doth  David  in  spirit, — 
(more  properly,  by  the  Spirit, — that  is,  in  a  state  of  inspiration) 
call  him  Lord,  saying,  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on 
my  right  hand,  till  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool"?  If 
David  then  call  him  Lord,  how  is  he  his  son '?  And  no  man 
(it  is  added)  was  able  to  answer  him  a  word."  Here  by  show- 
*ng  that  no  one  who  was  literally  the  son  of  David  could  also  be 


284  LECTURE  XVIII. 

David's  Lord,  He  virtually  denies,  and  was  understood  by  the 
hearers  to  deny,  that  He  was  actually  the  son  of  David.  Yet  in 
other  places  it  is  plainly  said,  that  He  was  the  Son  of  David.  The 
seemingly  contradictory  statements  can  only  be  feconciled  by 
understanding  that  in  one  sense,  or  in  one  respect,  He  was  the 
Son  of  David,  and  in  another  sense,  or  in  another  respect,  He 
was  not.  And  Paul  solves  the  difficulty  by  making  the  distinc- 
tion, that  He  was  "of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the  flesh ," 
— according  to  the  infirm  human  nature  taken  by  birth  from  the 
merely  human  mother  ;  evincing,  that  when  Jesus  Himself  dis- 
allows that  He  was  David's  son,  and  affirms,  in  David's  own 
inspired  language,  that  He  was  David's  Lord,  He  means  to  de- 
clare that  he  was  not  the  son  of  Divid,  or  of  any  man,  but  the 
Lord  of  all  men,  as  to  his  Divine  Nature,  not  only  as  to  his 
Essential  Divinity,  which  he  calls  his  Father,  but  also  as  to  his 
Divine  Humanity,  which  is  what  is  meant  when  He  is  called  the 
Son  of  God.  As  has  been  fully  explained  in  former  Lectures, 
He  completely  put  off  the  infirm  Humanity,  and  put  on  the 
Divine  Humanity,  by  the  glorifying  process  which  He  passed 
through  in  the  world,  so  that,  at  his  resurrection  and  ascension, 
He  was  no  longer  the  son  of  Mary,  nor,  consequently,  in  the 
literal  sense,  of  David.  His  Humanity  was  then  altogether 
Divine,  wholly  the  Son  of  God ;  and  He  then,  as  he  expresses 
it  Himself,  went  to  the  Father  from  whom,  as  to  his  Divine 
Humanity,  He  came  forth,  together  with  and  in  that  Humanity, 
now  perfected  to  the  very  ultimates ;  and  which  thus  was 
brought  into  the  closest  union  with  the  Essential  Divinity,  so  as 
to  form  therewith  One  Divine  Person,  as  the  body  of  man  is  in 
close  union,  and  forms  one  person,  with  his  soul. 

Now  it  is  this  Divine  Humanity,  which  is  the  Grand  Medium 
by  which  all  the  divine  operations  for  saving  and  blessing  man 
are  exerted,  which  the  Apostle  points  out  explicitly  in  our  text, 
by  the  designation  of  "  the  man  Christ  Jesus."  By  "the  Man 
Christ  Jesus"  he  means,  the  Divine  Humanity,  viewed  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  Essential  Divinity,  though  constituting  therewith 
One  Divine  Person ;  as  man's  body,  though  making  one  person 
with  his  soul,  is  quite  distinct  from  it.  And  this,  in  agreement 
with  all  that  was  stated  in  our  last  and  other  preceding  Lec- 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C  EXPLAINED.  285 

tures  as  to  the  necessity  of  such  a  Medium  for  dispensing  to 
man  the  means  of  grace  and  salvation,  when  man  had  become 
so  immersed  in  the  mere  extremes  of  his  natural  man  that  the 
divine  aids  and  influences,  such  as  they  existed  before  the  Lord's 
incarnation,  could  reach  him  no  longer,  is  denominated  by  the 
Apostle  "the  Mediator." 

"Mediator"  is  a  pure  Latin  word  adopted  into  the  English 
language,  and  is  derived  from  a  word  which  means  the  middle, 
or  what  is  in  the  middle.  Thus  it  bears  exactly  the  same  ra- 
dical meaning  as  the  word  used  in  the  original  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, which  strictly  signifies,  one  who  stands  in  the  middle 
between  two  other  persons,  or  things.  Hence  it  also  bears  the 
same  metaphorical  meaning  as  the  Latin  word  "Mediator,"  and 
which  in  English  is  the  only  meaning, — that  of  a  person  who 
interposes  between  two  other  parties,  to  accommodate  their  differ- 
ences, or  to  effect  their  reconciliation.  Now  this,  as  has  been 
shown,  in  former  Lectures,  and  will  be  further  evinced  when  we 
come  to  consider  the  true  nature  of  the  Atonement  effected  for 
man  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  precisely  what  He  accomplished 
by  assuming  and  glorifying  the  Humanity :  by  this,  man  was 
again  brought  into  a  state  of  communion,  and  a  capacity  for  ac- 
ceptance, with  God,  through  the  adaptation  to  his  state  of  the 
divine  aids  necessary  for  his  salvation.  By  this,  according  to 
that  most  luminous  and  satisfactory  declaration  of  the  Apostle 
[2  Cor.  v.  19],  "God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himself;"  wherefore,  for  himself  and  the  other  dispensers  of  the 
means  of  this  new-discovered  grace,  the  Apostle  adds,  "Now 
then  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech 
you  by  us  :  we  pray  you,  in  Christ's  stead,  Be  ye  reconciled  to 
God."  Christ,  or  the  Messiah,  is  a  name  of  the  Lord's  Divine 
Humanity  :  filled  with  the  Spirit  proceeding  from  which,  and  as 
instruments  for  extending  it  to  others,  the  Apostles  denominate 
themselves  "  ambassadors  for  Christ :"  and  because  the  operation 
of  the  Lord's  Humanity  consists  much  more  truly  in  reconciling 
man  to  God  than  in  reconciling  God  to  man,  the  human 
preachers  of  this  grace,  and  thus  dispensers  of  this  Spirit,  beg 
those  whom  they  address  to  receive  the  call,  "  as  though  God  did 
beseech  you  by  us ;"  and  to  be  assured  that  it  is  in  Christ's 


286 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


place,  or  as  speaking  in  his  name,  that  they  intreat  them,  say- 
ing, "Be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  God  is  said  to  beseech  them, 
and  Christ  to  pray  or  intreat  them,  not  as  two  persons,  but  as 
One  ;  God  being,  as  is  expressly  stated,  in  Christ,  or  the  Essen- 
tial Divinity  in  the  Divine  Humanity,  as  the  soul  in  the  body  ; 
and  Christ,  or  the  Divine  Humanity,  operating  and  sending  the 
Spirit  from  the  Essential  Divinity,  communicates  the  graces  of 
it  by  its  first  recipients  the  Apostles,  who  are  always  described 
as  sent  by  Christ,  to  all  who  should  be  converted  by  their 
preaching. 

Thus,  again,  we  see,  that  the  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  primary  and  grand  Medium  by  which  the  saving  purposes 
of  the  Essential  Divine  Love  are  accomplished  upon  mankind. 
And  it  is  as  thus  bringing  man  again  into  connexion  and  con- 
junction with  his  God,  and  removing  the  impediments  which 
kept  them  asunder,  that  "  the  Man  Christ  Jesus" — the  Lord  as 
to  his  Divine  Humanity,  is  denominated  "the  Mediator." 

It  may  indeed  be  objected,  that  among  men,  one  who  medi- 
ates between  two  parties  at  variance  is  always  a  person  distinct 
from  both.  This  indeed,  is  true,  and  between  men  it  cannot  be 
otherwise.  Yet  we  often  use  figurative  language,  imputing  medi- 
atory operations  to  certain  principles  in  the  party's  own  mind. 
If  persons  intimately  connected  unhappily  fall  at  variance,  as 
when  a  parent  is  offended  by  some  misconduct  on  the  part  of 
his  child,  how  common  is  it  to  say,  that  the  offender  finds  a 
strong  advocate,  or  a  powerful  mediator,  in  the  parent's  own 
breast !  The  Word  of  God  abounds  with  such  personifications 
of  principles.  How  continually  does  David,  in  the  Psalms,  ad- 
dress his  own  soul,  as  if  that  were  a  person  distinct  from  him- 
self; as  when  he  exclaims,  "Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and 
forget  not  all  his  benefits ;"  or  when  he  stirs  up  his  mind  to 
thanksgiving  by  saying,  "Awake  up,  my  glory" — glory  being 
itself  a  figurative  expression  for  man's  better  part,  his  spirit  or 
mind.  Now  the  Lord  expressly  warns  his  disciples,  that  He 
spoke  in  this  figurative  manner  in  all  that  He  said  to  them  about 
Himself,  the  Father,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  when  He  closes  a  long 
discourse,  chiefly  on  those  subjects,  by  saying,  [John  xvi.  25], 
"  These  things  have  I  spoken  to  you  in  proverbs,"  or,  as  it  is 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  287 


given  in  the  margin,  "in  parables  ;" — the  original  word  denotes, 
enigmatical  or  symbolic  sayings.  It  is  in  this  parabolic  or  sym- 
bolic style  that  He  denominates  his  Essential  Divinity  the 
Father,  his  Divine  Humanity  the  Son,  and  his  Divine  Proceed- 
ing the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  that  the  Apostle,  in  our  text,  calls  his 
Divine  Humanity  "the  Man  Christ  Jesus"  and  the  "Mediator." 
Distinct  Persons  they  cannot  be,  unless  you  would  destroy  the 
all-important  Scripture  truth,  that  God  is  one  :  if  then  they  can- 
not be  distinct  Persons,  which  would  be  the  same  as  distinct 
Gods,  they  must  be  distinct  Principles  or  Essentials  which, 
united,  constitute  the  One  God  ;  and  the  application  to  them  of 
personal  titles  and  attributes  must  be  one  of  the  forms  of  that 
symbolic  and  divinely  significative  language  which  the  purely 
divine  style  of  writing  constantly  employs.  It  is  by  a  very  easy 
figure  that  a  Medium  is  denominated  a  Mediator  ;  and  we  have 
abundantly  seen,  that  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity  is  the  all- 
important  Medium  for  dispensing  saving  benefits  to  mankind. 

We  have  now  pretty  fully  considered  this  most  important  of 
all  the  texts  in  which  the  title  of  Mediator  is  given  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  only  one  which  the  commonly  received 
doctrine  of  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ  attempts  to  adduce  in  its 
support.  That  doctrine  represents  him  as  pleading  the  merits 
of  his  death  and  sufferings  to  reconcile  an  angry  God  to  sinful 
men;  but  never  regards  him  as  pleading  with  sinful  men  to 
reconcile  them  to  a  long-suffering,  infinitely  benevolent,  and 
ever-placable  God ;  when  yet,  as  we  have  seen,  this  is  much 
more  like  the  manner  in  which  the  exercise  of  his  mediation  , 
is  represented  in  the  Scriptures.  The  Apostles  describe  them- 
selves as  intreating  men  in  his  name,  saying,  "  Be  ye  reconciled 
with  God but  never  do  they  represent  him  as  saying  to  God, 
"  Be  thou  reconciled  to  men."  This  text  then,  which  declares 
that  "  the  Man  Christ  Jesus" — the  Lord  as  to  his  Divine  Hu- 
manity— is  the  "Mediator  between  God  and  Man,"  gives  no 
direct  countenance  to  the  usual  mode  of  considering  his  Medi- 
atorship.  Yet  it  is  the  only  one  which  can  possibly  be  con- 
strued into  any  agreement  with  that  notion.  There  are  in  the 
whole,  three  other  passages  in  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is 
called  a  Mediator :  but  all  of  these  speak  of  Him  simply  as  dis- 


288 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


pen  sing  benefits  and  mercies  to  men,  and  are  totally  irreconcil- 
able with  the  notion  of  his  pleading  for  them  with  God. 

The  first  is  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  ch.  viii.  5.  The 
Apostle,  this  being  a  subject  adapted  to  gain  the  attention,  and 
win  the  favour,  of  the  Jews  to  whom  he  was  writing,  is  showing 
how  much  more  suited  to  our  necessities,  Jesus,  considered  as 
our  High  Priest,  must  be,  than  the  merely  mortal  high  priests 
under  the  Mosaic  law.  (We  showed  in  our  last  in  what  manner 
the  Jewish  priests  represented  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ.) 
For  Jesus,  he  says,  "hath  obtained  a  more  excellent  ministry, 
by  how  much  also  he  is  the  Mediator  of  a  better  covenant,  which 
was  established  upon  better  promises."  Here,  when  Jesus  is 
called  the  Mediator  of  a  better  covenant,  it  is  evident  that  the 
meaning  is,  that  He  was  the  Medium  or  Instrument  by  whom 
such  covenant  was  introduced  and  established.  It  is  called  a 
better  covenant,  to  point  out  the  superiority  of  the  gospel,  or  of 
the  Christian  dispensation,  over  the  law,  or  the  Mosaic  dispen- 
sation ;  and  this  better  covenant  is  said  to  be  founded  upon 
better  promises,  because,  under  the  Mosaic  covenant  and  dis- 
pensation, nothing  but  prosperity  and  long  life  in  the  world 
were  promised  to  those  who  observed  the  conditions  of  it ; 
whereas  "life  and  immortality  are  brought  to  light  by  the 
gospel."  Of  this  better  covenant  then,  it  is  here  said  that 
Jesus  "is  the  Mediator," — the  Medium  or  Agent  who  proposed 
it  from  God,  on  the  one  part,  to  man  on  the  other  :  and  He 
who  did  this  was  the  Lord  in  his  Humanity ; — not  any  second 
person  of  an  imagined  Trinity  of  three  persons,  "begotten 
before  all  worlds;" — not  even  the  Eternal  Logos — the  Word 
which  in  the  beginning  was  with  God  and  was  God — in  his 
then  state  of  existence  and  manifestation ;  but  this  Word  when 
made  flesh,  or  manifested  in  human  nature  :  and  the  Word,  made 
flesh,  we  have  abundantly  seen  in  former  Lectures,  is  the  Divine 
Humanity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  this  subject,  respecting  Jesus  as  the  Divine  Mediator  of 
the  new  covenant,  will  be  made  more  clear,  when  we  know  that 
the  title  is  equally  given  to  Moses,  as  the  human  mediator  of 
the  covenant  of  the.  Law,  or  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation.  Yet 
this  is  expressly  done  by  the  Apostle  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON"  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  289 

Galatians.  Speaking  of  the  law,  he  there  says,  that  "  it  was 
ordained  by  angels  in  the  hand  of  a  mediator."  Very  few 
Christians,  I  apprehend,  ever  think  of  Moses  as  a  mediator  :  he 
is  represented  by  Luther  and  many  others,  not  as  a  mediator, 
whose  office  is  always  regarded  as  a  kind  one,  but  as  a  cruel 
oppressor,  the  imposer  of  an  intolerable  yoke.  If  such  is  his 
true  character,  then  it  is  evident  a  mediator  is  not  necessarily  a 
reconciler  and  peace-maker, — much  less  one  who  intercedes  for 
the  afflicted  with  their  angry  master  ;  and  if  such  is  not  his  true 
character  then  it  follows,  that  Moses,  also,  was,  subordinately,  a 
reconciler  and  peace-maker,  and  that  his  law  was  not  so  intoler- 
ably severe  in  its  character  as  it  has  become  customary  to 
represent  it.  However,  the  title  of  Mediator  is  as  unequivocally 
given  to  Moses  as  to  Jesus  :  he  was  subordinately,  representa- 
tively, and  on  a  narrow  scale,  something  like  what  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  was  supremely,  absolutely,  and  universally,  a 
mediator  between  God  and  men  ;  not  however,  immediately, 
for  another  order  of  mediators,  it  appears,  intervened  between 
Moses  and  Jehovah  himself^  The  Apostle  states  that  the  law 
was  ordained  (in  the  sense,  not  of  appointed,  but  of  ordered  and 
established)  by  angels,  in  (or  by)  the  hand  of  a  mediator.  This 
we  know  from  other  sources,  was  the  general  opinion  of  the 
Jewish  doctors  ;  and  the  martyr  Stephen  reproaches  the  people 
in  his  dying  speech,  that  they  had  "  received  the  law  by  the 
disposition  of  angels,  and  had  not  kept  it,"  [Acts  vii.  53]. 
It  appears  from  this,  that  angels,  filled  with  the  presence  of 
God,  so  as  to  know  no  other  at  the  time  than  that  they  were 
Jehovah  himself,  were  the  immediate  agents  in  the  delivery  of 
the  law,  and  that  Moses  was  the  mediator  between  them  and 
the  people.  This  fact  does  not  appear  in  the  narrative  in  the 
Old  Testament  ;  but  there  are  many  instances  which  prove,  that 
when  Jehovah  is  said  to  have  appeared  or  spoken  to  men,  it  was 
not  the  pure  Divinity  Himself  who  so  appeared  and  spoke  but 
an  angel  filled  with  his  presence,  who,  therefore,  is  some- 
times mentioned  under  the  title  of  "  the  angel  of  the  Lord." 
Now  that  Moses  did  act  as  a  mediator  between  such  an  angei 
or  angels  and  the  people,  is  expressly  declared  by  himself :  for 
he  says  to  the  people  [Deut.  v.  5],  "  I  stood  between  the  Lord 
19 


290 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


and  you  at  that  time,  to  show  you  the  word  of  the  Lord." 
When  Moses  says,  "I  stood  between  the  Lord  and  you,"  he 
declares  that  he  was  a  Mediator  according  to  what  we  have 
before  shown  to  be  the  strict  and  literal  meaning  of  the  original 
word, — one  who  stands  in  the  middle  between  two  other  parties  or 
things.  He  was  eqally  a  mediator  in  the  more  figurative  sense 
of  the  term,  as  one  who  goes  between  two  other  parties  to 
bring  them  to  a  state  of  agreement :  for  he  received  the  law 
from  God,  or  from  his  more  immediate  ministers,  the  angels  of 
his  presence,  wrote  it  in  a  book,  propounded  it  to  the  people 
and  obtained  from  them  an  engagement  to  accept  and  perform 
it.  Now  in  all  this  it  is  very  plain  that  Moses  acted  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  as  the  Eternal  Logos 
— the  Word  which  was  in  the  beginning  with  God  and  was 
God, — communicated  that  law  of  which  Moses  mediated  the 
acceptance  with  the  people  ;  and  who,  as  the  Word  made  flesh, 
or  as  to  his  Divine  Humanity,  is  the  grand  Medium,  by  which 
the  gospel,  and  all  the  aids  of  the  Spirit  necessary  for  man's 
everlasting  salvation  are  dispense^  to  mankind.  Between 
Moses,  then,  as  a  mediator,  and  the  Mediatorship  of  Jesus 
Christ,  there  is  a  certain  parallel  and  just  correspondence,  so 
that  the  one  may  be  viewed  as  representing  the  other :  but  in 
the  mediatorship  of  Moses  very  little  can  be  found  that  agrees 
with  the  ordinary  notions  of  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  other  two  passages  in  which  the  title  of  Mediator  is 
applied  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  in  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, and  are  exactly  the  same  in  purport  as  the  one  which 
we  have  last  considered.  In  ch.  ix.  15,  the  Apostle  writes 
"  For  this  cause  he  is  the  Mediator  of  the  New  Testament,  that 
by  means  of  death,  for  the  redemption  of  the  trangressions 
that  were  under  the  first  testament,  they  which  are  called  might 
receive  the  promise  of  eternal  inheritance."  The  Mediator  of 
the  new  testament  (where  the  word  for  "testament"  is  the 
same  as  is  usually,  as  in  the  passages  quoted  before,  translated 
"covenant"),  denotes,  as  before,  the  dispenser  of  the  new 
covenant, — the  Medium  or  Instrument  by  which  the  new  cove- 
nant or  Christian  dispensation,  with  all  the  graces  and  aids  of 
the  Spirit  therewith  imparted  is  communicated  to  mankind. 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  291 

This  Medium  is  the  Divine  Humanity,  which  was  glorified  or 
rendered  Divine  "by  means  of  death"  which  is  the  reason  that 
that  phrase  is  introduced.  The  Lord's  Humanity  was  made 
Divine,  and  new  aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  in  consequence 
imparted,  "  for  the  redemption  of  the  transgressions  that  were 
under  the  first  testament  (or  covenant)," — for  man's  redemption 
or  deliverance  from  the  evils  that  could  not  be  interiorly  re- 
moved by  any  divine  aids  capable  of  being  given  under  the  dis- 
pensations which  existed  before ;  in  consequence  of  which, 
"they  who  are  called,"  so  as  to  become  the  subjects  of  this  new 
dispensation,  and  receivers  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  proceeds 
from  the  Lord's  Glorified  Humanity,  "  receive  the  promise  of 
eternal  inheritance."  All  which  is  beautifully  in  accord  with 
the  doctrine  of  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  we  endeavoured 
to  set  forth  in  our  last  Lecture. 

The  last  passage  is  very  similar.  Among  the  blessings  be- 
stowed on  sincere  Christians,  the  Apostle  says,  "Ye  are  come — • 
to  Jesus,  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of 
sprinkling,  that  speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel." 
"  The  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant"  means  exactly  the  same  as 
before.  The  blood  of  sprinkling  is  the  Divine  Truth,  purifying 
the  heart,  proceeding  from  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity. 

I  have  now  gone  through  all  the  texts  in  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  denominated  a  Mediator,  and  in  which  his  work 
of  Mediation  is  spoken  of  in  connexion  with  the  use  of  that 
word.  The  whole,  we  see,  perfectly  accord  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  we  regard  as  that  of  the 
True  Christian  Religion  ;  while  it  is  very  difficult  indeed  to 
derive  from  them  any  countenance  for  the  notions  which  are 
usually  offered  as  composing  that  doctrine.  Nothing  is  found 
in  them  representing  the  Son  as  pleading  with  the  Father  on 
behalf  of  man  ;  nothing  of  his  urging  his  sufferings  and  the 
merit  of  them  as  inducements  with  the  Father  to  comply  with 
his  intreaty  ;  nothing,  indeed,  of  any  appeal  of  the  Son  to  the 
Father  at  all:  but  all  relates  to  his  desires  and  exertions  to 
communicate  the  effectual  means  of  grace  and  salvation  to  man- 
kind ;  which  was  accomplished,  by  his  descending,  as  the  Word 
which  in  the  beginning  was  with  God,  and  was  God,  to  assume 


292  LECTURE  XVIII. 

Humanity,  and  imparting  from  that  Humanity  when  rendered 
Divine,  as  the  only  possible  Medium  for  the  purpose,  those  aids 
of  the  Spirit  which  place  man  in  a  state  capable  of  salvation, 
and  convey  salvation  to  him,  in  proportion  to  his  acceptance  and 
obedience. 

II.  The  doctrine  of  the  Mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that 
of  his  Intercession,  amount,  in  effect,  to  the  very  same  thing. 
The  same  thing  is  presented  in  Scripture,  sometimes  under  the 
name  of  Mediation,  or  rather  of  Jesus  as  a  Mediator,  and  some- 
times under  that  of  Intercession.  The  passages  which  expressly 
speak  of  the  Lord  Jesus  as  a  Mediator,  are,  we  have  found,  but 
very  few  ;  those  which  mention  his  Intercession,  under  that 
title,  are  even  less  numerous.  To  the  consideration  of  these  we 
are  now  to  direct  our  attention  ;  and  if  the  view  just  given  of  the 
true  purport  of  the  texts  which  speak  of  the  Lord  as  a  Mediator, 
together  with  the  nature  of  his  Mediation  as  explained  in  the 
preceding  Lecture,  and  further  elucidated  in  the  preceding  part 
of  this,  be  borne  in  mind,  we  shall  not  find  much  difficulty  in 
apprehending  how  the  passages  which  mention  his  Intercession 
are  to  be  understood,  in  harmony  with  all  the  other  doctrines  of 
the  Word  of  God,  especially  with  those  of  the  Absolute  Unity, 
and  purely  Benevolent  Nature,  of  our  Creator  and  Redeemer. 

The  most  striking  and  explicit  declaration  respecting  the 
Lord's  Intercession,  is  that  which  I  read  in  the  text  of  the 
present  Lecture,  from  Heb.  vii.  25  :  "Wherefore  he  is  able  also 
to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that  come  unto  God  by  him, 
seeing  he  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them."  A  similar 
statement  occurs  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  ch.  viii.  ver.  34 ; 
where,  in  answer  to  the  question,  "  Who  is  he  that  con- 
demneth  ?" — the  Apostle  replies,  "It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea 
rather,  that  is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of 
God  ;  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us."  And  these  are  the 
only  two  passages  in  the  New  Testament  in  which  the  Inter- 
cession of  Jesus  Christ  is  expressly  named. 

But  if  no  mention  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  of  the  In- 
tercession of  Jesus  Christ  except  in  these  two  texts,  there  is 
another  passage  in  the  same  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  in  which  Intercession  is  twice  mentioned  in  relation 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  293 

to  the  Holy  Spirit.  Intercession  is  there  ascribed  to  the  Holy 
Spirit,  no  less  explicitly  than,  in  the  two  other  texts,  to  the ' 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  have  before  quoted  the  passage,  and 
slightly  explained  it.  It  occurs  in  vers.  26,  27  ;  where  the 
Apostle  writes,  "Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmi- 
ties ;  for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  we  ought ; 
but  the  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us  with  groanings 
that  cannot  be  uttered.  And  he  that  searcheth  the  hearts, 
knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because  he  maketh 
intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the  will  of  God." 

Now  if,  according  to  the  generally  received  doctrine,  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  a  Divine  Person  distinct  from  Jesus  Christ,  then  there 
are  two  Divine  Intercessors  ;  and  if,  as  is  undeniable,  interces- 
sion is  a  work  of  mediation,  it  is  no  less  certain  that  there  are 
two  Divine  Mediators ;  but  how  is  this  reconcilable  with  the 
decided  statement  of  the  Apostle  already  considered,  that  there 
is  but  "one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus  ?"  If  the  Apostle  Paul,  when  affirming  that  both  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  make  intercession  for 
man,  meant  that  they  do  so  as  distinct  Divine  Persons,  what 
becomes  of  his  express  and  solemn  declaration,  that  there  is 
"  one  Mediator,"  and  no  more  ?  That  there  is  an  error  here, 
one  way  or  other,  is  beyond  all  question. 

The  orthodox  commentators  (so  accounted),  could  not  but  see 
this  dilemma :  and  how  do  they  endeavour  to  escape  from  it  ? 
By  no  less  bold  a  course  than  that  of  affirming,  that  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  no  proper  intercession  at  all. 
What,  then  ;  has  the  Apostle  Paul  made  a  mistake,  or  used  im- 
proper language,  in  saying  so  ?  The  phrase  "  to  make  interces- 
sion," is  used  b}rour  translators  for  the  single  word  that  occurs 
in  the  original  with  strict  uniformity :  the  word  employed  by 
the  Apostle  in  the  original  of  his  Epistles,  twice  in  application 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  twice  in  relation  to  the  Holy 
Spirit,  is  always  the  same,  except  that,  in  one  instance,  it  is 
combined  with  a  preposition  which  does  not  alter  the  sense : 
must  not,  then,  its  meaning  be  the  same,  when  spoken  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  when  applied  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  In- 
fluenced by  the  necessity,  which  they  feel  as  so  pressing,  of 


294 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


upholding  the  doctrine  of  Mediation  and  Intercession  as  gene- 
rally received,  and  at  the  same  time  the  doctrine  of  a  separation 
as  to  person  of  the  three  Subsistences  of  the  Trinity, — in 
answer  to  this  question,  the  leading  expositors  say,  "No." 
The  most  laborious  modern  commentator  on  the  Epistles  in  the 
English  Language  (Dr.  Macknight),  instead  of  saying,  in  the 
just  rendering  of  our  translators,  "the  Spirit  itself  maketh 
intercession  for  us,"  gives  the  passage,  "the  Spirit  himself 
strongly  complainelh  for  us."  And  after  the  statement  in  the 
next  verse,  that  "he  who  searcheth  the  hearts  knoweth  what 
the  mind  of  the  Spirit  is,"  instead  of,  "because  he  maketh 
intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the  will  of  God,"  he 
completes  the  sentence  with,  "that  to  God  he  complaineth  for 
the  saints.  And  he  adds  in  a  note,  "  No  where  in  the  Scrip- 
ture is  the  Spirit  said  to  intercede  for  men,  in  the  proper  sense  of 
intercession,  which  is,  the  merit  of  the  intercessor  pleaded  in 
behalf  of  another.  In  this  proper  sense,  there  is  but  one  inter- 
cessor with  God,  the  man  Christ  Jesus."  Upon  what  authority 
does  the  expositor  here  say,  that  "no  where  in  Scripture  is  the 
Spirit  said  to  intercede  for  man  in  the  proper  sense  of  inter- 
cession?" Twice,  we  find,  is  the  Spirit  said  by  the  Apostle  to 
intercede  for  men,  and  twice,  and  no  more,  is  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  said,  by  the  same  Apostle,  to  intercede  for  men  :  and  in 
every  instance  he  uses  the  same  word,  with  one  little  variation 
not  affecting  the  sense.  Thus  the  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ, 
as  far  as  the  Apostle's  testimony  goes,  stands  upon  exactly  the 
same  ground  as  the  Intercession  of  the  Spirit:  where  then  is 
the  authority  on  which  it  is  pretended,  that  in  one  case  the 
proper  sense  of  Intercession  is  intended, — in  the  other  not  ? 
On  what  foundation,  also,  does  the  learned — perhaps  the  imagi- 
native— commentator  build,  when  he  affirms,  that  "the  proper 
sense  of  intercession  is,  the  merit  of  the  intercessor  pleaded  in 
behalf  of  another?"  Does  any  lexicographer  whatever  explain 
the  word  in  this  manner?  Does  the  explanation  hold  good  in 
any  ordinary  instance?  When  a  bishop,  with  others,  lately 
petitioned  for  the  commutation  of  the  punishment  of  a  great 
criminal,  did  he  dream  of  using  the  plea,  "I  am  a  holy  man: 
for  my  merit,  then,  spare  the  life  of  this  murderer?"  Is 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  295 

It  not  evident,  that  this  highly  esteemed  commentator,  first 
mistranslated  the  text,  and  then  gave  a  false  definition  of  the 
proper  sense  of  intercession,  to  screen  a  view  of  the  doctrine, 
which  cannot  be  maintained,  if  the  meaning  be  fairly  confessed, 
and  the  true  sense  of  the  term  left  unperverted?  It  is  plain, 
also,  that  when  this  interpreter  defines  the  proper  sense  of  in- 
tercession to  be,  "the  merit  of  the  intercessor  pleaded  in  behalf 
of  another,"  he  had  in  his  mind,  and  wished  to  uphold,  the  idea 
of  the  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  commonly  entertained,  which 
is,  that  He  is  continually  interceding  in  heaven  for  mankind 
with  the  Father,  by  pleading  the  merits  of  his  own  sufferings 
and  death— of  his  whole  active  and  passive  righteousness,  as  it 
is  called, — as  a  reason  why  his  Father  should  comply  with  his 
requests  ;  whereas  it  is  a  fact,  that  no  assertion  of  such  a 
pleading  is  to  be  found  in  Scripture,  either  in  the  writings  of 
this  Apostle,  or  any  where  else.  And  yet  this  celebrated  trans- 
lator and  annotator,  who  here  gives  such  an  instance,  in  his  own 
person,  of  theological  prejudice,  and  its  injurious  operation  on 
the  interpretation  of  Scripture,  was  so  well  aware  of  its  tend- 
ency, and  of  the  necessity  of  guarding  against  it,  that  he  could 
candidly  say  of  the  famous  Reformer  Beza,  Calvin's  disciple 
and  successor  (whose  Latin  version  of  the  New  Testament  has 
greatly  influenced  all  subsequent  Protestant  translations,  in- 
cluding the  English  one), — "He  hath  mistranslated  a  number 
of  texts  for  the  purpose,  as  it  would  seem,  of  establishing  his 
peculiar  doctrines,  and  of  confuting  his  opponents;"  and  "by 
strained  criticisms,  he  hath  made  texts  express  doctrines,  which, 
though  they  may  be  true,  were  not  intended  by  the  inspired 
writers  to  be  set-  forth  in  them  :" — a  censure  which,  in  the  in- 
stance before  us  and  in  many  more,  most  certainly  applies  to 
the  writer  of  it,  and  to  most  other  translators  and  commentators 
of  Scripture. 

I  have  adverted  to  this  translation  and  annotation  of  Dr. 
Macknight,  to  show  that  the  advocates  of  the  theology  of  the  day 
are  themselves  aware  of  the  danger  which  threatens  their  system, 
if  the  Holy  Spirit  be  allowed  to  intercede  with  God  for  man, 
either  in  the  customary  sense  of  that  word,  or  in  the  strained 
sense  which  Dr.  Macknight  assigns  to  it.    If,  as  already 


296 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


remarked,  the  Holy  Spirit  and  Jesus  Christ  are  two  Divine 
Persons,  then,  most  certainly,  it  is  not  true  that  the  latter  is 
the  "  one  Mediator."  If  He  truly  is  the  "  one  Mediator,"  and  yet 
the  Holy  Spirit,  as  well  as  He,  "makes  intercession,"  it  follows 
undeniably,  that  they  cannot  be  two  Persons  :  but  if  as  has 
fully  been  shown,  "the  Man  Christ  Jesus"  is  the  Lord  as  to  his 
Divine  Humanity,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Divine.  Influence 
and  operative  Energy  proceeding  from  the  Divine  Humanity, 
and  thus  is  the  Lord  Himself  as  dwelling  and  energizing  in 
man,  then  all  contradiction  disappears,  and  the  "one  Mediator" 
is  also  the  sole  Intercessor,  considered  either  as  to  his  Divine 
Humanity  or  as  to  the  Divine  Proceeding  thence, — considered 
either  as  the  Lord  in  his  proper  Person,  or  as  abiding  in  man 
by  his  Emanating  Life. 

But  though,  in  giving  such  a  rendering  and  interpretation  of 
the  passage  now  before  us,  Dr.  Macknight  has,  for  the  sake  of 
preserving  the  common  notions  of  the  Lord's  intercession  and 
of  the  distinction  of  Person  between  Him  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
more  openly  displayed  the  theological  partizan  than  some  others, 
yet  most  of  the  expositors  have  been  equally  anxious,  if  not  to 
drop  the  word  "  intercession"  out  of  this  text,  because  applied 
to  the  Holy  Spirit,  at  any  rate  to  get  rid  of  the  idea,  that,  when 
so  applied,  it  bears  the  same  sense  as  when  spoken  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Even  the  moderate  Doddridge,  in  his  Paraphrase,  drops 
the  word,  in  the  passage  before  us,  though  he  exchanges  it  for 
a  phrase  which  well  expresses  the  strict  meaning  of  the  original 
term  :  but  he  objects  to  use  the  word  "  intercession,"  in  reference 
to  the  Holy  Spirit,  because,  as  he  says,  "the  office  of  an  Inter- 
cessor with  God  is  so  peculiarly  that  of  Christ,  our  advocate 
with  the  Father.''''  Thus,  though  Paul  uses  the  same  word  of 
both,  his  professed  interpreters  feel  repugnance  to  do  so,  out  of 
tenderness  to  a  system  of  theology  to  which  Paul  was  a  stranger. 
The  most  learned,  critical,  and  copious,  of  the  recent  English 
annotators  on  the  New  Testament,  Dr.  Bloomfield,  also  inti- 
mates disapproval  of  the  word,  and  takes  care  to  show,  that  all  the 
principal  interpreters  affirm,  that,  as  applied  to  the  Holy  Ghost, 
it  does  not  mean  the  same  thing  as  when  applied  to  Jesus 
Christ.    "The  intercession,  if  so  it  maybe  called  [he  says],  of 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  297 

the  Holy  Ghost,  is  quite  of  another  kind  to  that  ascribed  to  the 
Son.  The  true  nature  of  it  (he  adds),  has  been  well  illustrated 
by  Erasmus,  Beza,  Estius,  Paraeus,  Grotius,  Wolf,  and  others, 
as  follows  ;  "The  Holy  Spirit  intercedes,  not  as  a  mediator,  by 
virtue  of  his  own  merit,  which  is  Christ's  only,  but  as  advocate, 
who  excites  the  faithful,  as  it  were  his  clients,  to  prayer,  shows 
them  what  they  are  to  pray  for,  and  cherishes  their  hope  of  ob- 
taining their  petitions."  Yet  Doddrige,  we  have  seen,  will 
not  allow  the  Holy  Ghost's  title  to  be  called  our  advocate;  and 
Dr.  Bloomfield  agrees  with  him ;  lor  he  adds,  "  To  the  above 
particulars,  however,  I  must  take  exception  in  one  point ;  namely, 
as  respects  the  term  advocate,  which,  in  fact,  comes  to  the  same 
thing  as  intercessory  Thus,  though  the  Apostle  affirms  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  "  makes  intercession  for  us,"  and  expresses  it  by  the 
same  word  as  he  applies  to  the  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
prevailing  system  of  theology  will  not  allow  its  maintainers  to 
admit,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  an  Intercessor,  nevertheless.  And 
yet,  if  the  notion  of  the  separate  Personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  laid  aside,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
be  viewed  as  the  Divine  Life,  Power,  and  Operative  Energy, 
proceeding  from  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  designated  as 
"the  Man  Christ  Jesus;"  while  this  again  is  the  Manifested 
Form  or  Person  of  the  Essential  Divinity,  or  the  Father,  brought 
into  the  natural  degree  of  life  to  accommodate  the  divine  in- 
fluences to  apprehension  and  reception  by  man  in  a  fallen  na- 
tural state  ;  all  obscurity  will  disappear.  The  Intercession  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  Intercession  of  Him  from  whom  the  Holy 
Ghost  proceeds ;  as  much  as  the  effect  produced  by  a  mandate 
which  a  king  issues  to  his  officer,  or  by  a  letter  which  a  man 
writes  to  his  friend  or  to  his  servant,  is  an  effect  produced  by  the 
king  or  the  man.  The  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Medium  by  which  all  the  divine  works  for  the  salvation  of  man 
are  produced  ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Divine  Operation 
modified  by  the  Divine  Humanity  so  as  to  accomplish  the  pur- 
poses in  view  ;  and  the  operations  of  which,  therefore,  whether 
called  intercession  or  anything  else,  are  no  less  the  operations 
and  intercession  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus. 


298 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


But  it  is  necessary  to  consider  what  the  idea  intended  to  be 
conveyed  by  the  Greek  word  used  by  the  Apostle,  and  which  is 
rendered  in  the  English  Bible  by  "  to  make  intercession,"  pro- 
perly is.  Is  it  making  intercession  by  supplication,  intreaty,  or 
prayer  ?  Or  are  other  modes  of  intercession  denoted,  either 
including  supplication  or  otherwise  ? 

It  is  proper  first  to  observe,  that  the  term  used  by  the  Apostle 
is  not  a  noun  but  a  verb.  It  is  rendered  rather  more  emphatic 
than  it  is  in  the  original,  when  it  is  translated  in  our  Bible,  "  to 
make  intercession."  Literally,  it  is,  to  intercede.  Literally,  the 
passage  about  the  Holy  Spirit  would  say,  that  the  Spirit  "  inter- 
cedes for  us,  or  "  for  the  saints  :"  that  of  our  text  about  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  be,  "He  ever  liveth  to  intercede  for 
us:"  and  that  in  Rom.  viii.  34,  "Who  also  intercedes  for  us." 
It  appears  to  have  been  merely  for  the  sake  of  euphony,  that 
our  translators  adopted  the  more  emphatic  form,  "  maketh  inter- 
cession," or  "  to  make  intercession." 

Now,  though  all  the  expositors  seem  to  suppose,  that  inter- 
cession, when  spoken  of  the  Lord,  means  supplication  and  prayer 
for  us  offered  by  Him  to  the  Father,  yet,  in  agreement  with  the 
undeniable  force  of  the  original  word  as  shown  by  all  the  lexi- 
cographers, from  its  use  by  the  ancient  writers,  all  the  more 
candid  and  learned  of  the  commentators  admit  that  it  strictly 
imports  much  more  than  supplication,  and  does  not  always,  and 
necessarily,  include  this.  Thus,  speaking  of  the  intercession  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  Dr.  Bloomfield  most  justly  observes,  "In  order 
more  clearly  to  comprehend  this  little  understood  point  of  Chris- 
tian theology,  especial  attention  must  be  paid  to  the  primitive  sense 
of  [the  Apostle's  original  word]  tvTvyX&veiv  and  [the  Latin  word 
from  which  we  derive  our  word  intercede']  intercedere  ;  which  is,  'to 
go  between  any  two  persons — to  manage  any  one's  business  with 
another.'  Now  this  [our  author  adds]  may  be  done  in  various 
ways  ;  either  by  acting  as  Speaker,  Advocate,  or  as  Pleader,  (which 
last  office  [he  affirms]  belongs  to  our  Saviour)  ;  or  (as  is  that  of 
the  Holy  Spirit),  suggesting  the  best  means  of  accomplishing  any 
business  ;  and  therefore  aiding  and  acting  itkg  fyMv,  on  our  behalf; 
or  (to  use  an  illustration  drawn  from  human  affairs)  as  a  solicitor 
or  attorney  acts  on  behalf  of  another,  by  suggesting  to  him  what 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  299 

is  proper  for  him  to  say,  and  putting  him  in  the  right  way  to 
proceed  in  any  business.  And  it  is  truly  observed  [this  learned 
writer  proceds  to  say]  by  Taylor,  that  '  the  Spirit  of  God  makes 
intercession  for  the  saints,  not  by  making  supplication  to  God 
in  their  behalf,  but  by  directing  and  qualifying  their  supplica- 
tions in  a  proper  manner,  by  his  agency  and  influence  upon 
their  hearts.' "  What  is  here  stated  on  the  primitive  sense  of 
the  original  word,  and  of  the  corresponding  Latin  (and  thence 
English  word),  is  most  true,  and  most  important;  and  (except 
as  to  assigning  to  the  Saviour  the  office,  literally,  of  a  Pleader) 
there  is  much  genuine  truth  in  the  whole  passage.  The  primi- 
tiue  sense  of  the  Apostle's  original  word,  is,  all  scholars  acknow- 
ledge, "  to  go  between  any  two  persons — to  manage  any  one's 
business  with  another."  Therefore  Doddridge,  who  wrote  long 
before,  while  demurring  to  the  use  of  the  word  intercession  in 
regard  to  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  renders  the  two  pas- 
sages in  which,  in  reference  to  the  Spirit,  the  original  word 
occurs,  "The  Spirit  itself  manages  these  affairs  for  us ;"  and, 
"  He  manages  affairs  for  the  saints  according  to  the  gracious 
will  of  God."  And  our  standard  lexicographer,  Johnson,  like 
a  man  of  sound  learning  as  he  was,  defines  the  English  word 
agreeably  to  the  sense  of  its  original.  "To  intercede,"  he  says, 
is  "  to  pass  between  two  parties  ;  to  mediate  ;  to  act  between  two 
parties."  "  Intercession"  is  "  mediation  ;  interposition;  agency 
between  two  parties  :  agency  in  the  cause  of  another."  He  does 
not  mention  supplication  as  any  part  of  the  "  proper  sense"  of 
intercession  ;  much  less  "  the  merit  of  the  intercessor  pleaded  in 
behalf  of  another." 

Now  when  the  commentators  are  so  willing  to  allow — 
generally,  so  eager  to  affirm, — that  it  is  in  the  primitive  sense  of 
the  original  Greek  word,  and  of  the  corresponding  Latin  word, 
which  we  render  to  intercede,  that  the  term  is  to  be  understood 
when  spoken  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  in  that  of  interceding 
by  prayer  and  supplication,  though  it  is  said  to  intercede  "  with 
groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered  ;" — when,  in  relation  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  word  is  allowed  to  bear  its  strict  and  proper 
meaning  of  "going  between  any  two  parties,"  and  of  "managing 
any  one's  business  with  another  ;"  why  cannot  this  meaning  be 


300 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


admitted  when  the  word  is  applied  to  Jesus  Christ,  or  to  the 
Lord  as  to  his  Divine  Humanity,  which  is  never,  as  now  existing 
glorified  in  heaven,  said  to  pray  or  supplicate  for  man,  or  to  ad- 
dress the  Father  in  any  way  whatever,  because  He  is  now  one 
God,  and  one  Person,  with  the  Essential  Divine  Principle  so  de- 
nominated? When  it  is  said  that  Jesus  "  is  able  to  save  to  the 
uttermost  them  that  come  to  God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever  liveth 
to  make  intercession  for  them,"  why  cannot  it  be  acknowledged, 
that  the  meaning  is,  that  the  Lord  as  to  his  Humanity  acts  as 
a  Medium  between  the  inconceivable,  incomprehensible  Divinity 
and  man  in  his  frailty, — comes  between  these  two  otherwise 
mutually  unapproachable  parties, — manages,  so  to  speak,  the 
business  of  each  with  the  other, — opens  a  communication  be- 
tween fallen,  sinful  man  and  the  infinitely  pure  and  holy  God, 
even  as  to  his  Essential  Divinity, — dispenses,  from  his  Divine 
Humanity,  by  his  proceeding  Spirit,  the  communications  of  the 
Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,  in  the  forms  of  saving  grace,  so 
modified  as  to  be  suited  to  man's  capacities  of  reception — hears, 
and  gives  acceptance  to,  all  the  upward  aspirations,  prayers,  and 
desires  of  man,  and  brings  him  to  the  knowledge  of,  and  to  con- 
junction with,  the  Infinite  God  in  his  divinely  Human  Person, 
thus  such  as  man  can  conceive  of,  can  spiritually  and  intel- 
lectually see,  can  truly  embrace  with  love,  and  be  intimately 
united  to  for  ever  ?  This  is  what  the  Eternal  Jehovah,  whose 
very  essence  is  Infinite  Love,  clothed  himself  with  Humanity  to 
accomplish  ;  and  is  not  this  acting  as  an  Intercessor  in  the  pri- 
mitive and  most  proper  sense  of  the  term, — that  of  coming 
between  two  parties,  managing  the  business  of  each  with  the 
other,  and  abolishing  the  separation  which  existed  between  them? 
And  is  not  this  "saving  to  the  uttermost  them  that  come  to  God 
by  him," — by  the  Humanity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  a  Me- 
dium of  access  ?  What  else  can  properly  be  meant  by  coming 
to  God  by  Him,  but  approaching  the  Essential  Divinity  as  re- 
siding in,  and  thus  as  accessible  by  or  through,  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity of  Jesus  Christ?  How  otherwise  can  He,  seeing  He 
ever  liveth  to  do  so,  "make  intercession"  for  us,  so  as  that  we 
shall  "come  to  God  by  Him?"  It  is  not  by  only  taking  his 
name  on  our  lips,  and  then  attempting  to  climb  up  above  Him 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPLAINED.  301 

to  God  the  Father  ;  nor  yet  by  his  making  intercession  in  the 
way  of  intreating  the  Father  to  pardon  and  receive  us,  that  we 
can  possibly  "come  unto  God  by  him :"  it  must  be  by  coming 
to  God  in,  and  thus  by,  the  Lord's  Humanity,  and  by  his 
making  intercession  in  the  way  of  coming  between  us  and  the 
otherwise  unapproachable  Divine  Essence,  and  admitting  us  to 
communication  and  conjunction  therewith  in  Himself.  Thus 
hath  He  opened  to  us  "a  new  and  living  way  which  he  hath 
consecrated  for  us  through  the  veil,  that  is  to  say  his  flesh  ;" 
that  is,  by  his  Humanity,  consecrated  or  glorified  [Heb.  x.  20]. 

Now  if  it  is  by  his  Divine  Humanity  in  which  is  the  Essential 
Divinity  that  we  have  these  blessed  privileges,  it  is  evident,  that 
the  intercession  is  not  in  any  way  of  supplication.  The  Hu- 
manity, when  glorified  or  made  Divine,  and  the  Essential  Di- 
vinity, being  perfectly  united,  and  forming  one  Person,  as  man's 
body  forms  one  person  with  his  soul,  there  could  be  no  prayer 
or  supplication  of  one  to  the  other  after  the  union  was  com- 
pletely effected.  And,  as  we  have  observed,  no  intimation  of 
such  a  thing  is  ever  to  be  found  in  Scripture.  While  the  Hu- 
manity was  yet  unglorified,  and  the  Lord,  in  a  body  of  material 
flesh  and  blood,  was  still  in  the  world,  and  had  perceptions 
therein  similar  to  the  perceptions  of  men  in  the  world ;  while, 
moreover,  he  was  engaged  in  his  works  of  redemption,  combat- 
ing with  the  infernal  powers,  and  suffering  from  them  most 
direful  temptations  even  to  despair ;  he  did  indeed  pra}'  to  the 
Father  as  to  a  distinct  Divinity,  as  we  have  seen  in  our  Lecture 
on  the  Lord's  Resurrection :  but  when  He  was  glorified  so  as  to 
be  One  with  him,  and  to  enjoy  the  full  perception  of  such 
Oneness,  He  did  so  no  more  ;  and  no  trace  of  any  thing  of  the 
kind,  after  his  resurrection,  is  to  be  found  in  the  Gospels,  in  the 
Acts,  in  anything  said  of  Him  in  the  Epistles,  or  in  the  Revela- 
tion. Yet  strange  to  say,  though  all  learned  commentators 
confess  that  intercession  does  not  necessarily,  in  its  proper 
sense,  include  supplication,  they  seem  almost  to  regard  this  as 
its  most  important  meaning  when  spoken  of  Jesus  Christ.  Not 
only,  however,  have  we  the  negative  evidence,  that  there  is  no 
mention  of  any  address  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Father  after  his 
resurrection,  but  we  find  an  express  statement  by  Him,  in  his 


302 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


last  discourse  with  his  disciples,  that  such  would  be  the  fact. 
After  having  spoken  of  his  leaving  them  to  go  to  the  Father, 
and  of  his  coming  to  them  again  as  the  Comforter  or  Spirit  of 
truth,  He  says  [John  xvi.  26,  27],  "  At  that  day  ye  shall  ask  in 
my  name  :  and  I  say  not  unto  you  that  I  will  pray  the  Father 
for  you ;  for  the  Father  himself  loveth  you,  because  ye  have 
loved  me,  and  have  believed  that  I  came  out  from  God."  Plain 
readers  will  understand  this  literally  to  mean,  that  when  Jesus 
should  have  gone  to  the  Father,  and  the  disciples  began  to  pray 
in  his  name,  He  himself  would  not  solicit  the  Father  for  them 
any  more,  as  this  could  not  be  necessary,  when  the  Father  him- 
self equally  loved  them  on  account  of  their  love  to,  and  faith  in, 
Him.  How  do  those  whose  doctrine  cannot  subsist  without  the 
notion  of  the  Lord's  praying  to  the  Father,  and  pleading  his 
merits,  for  his  people,  receive  this  saying  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  ?  They  receive  it,  by  refusing  to  believe  it.  Jesus  seems 
vesy  plainly  to  say,  that  when  He  should  have  gone  to  the 
Father,  He  would  no  longer  pray  to  him,  as  this  would  then  be 
unnecessary  and  useless.  No,  says  Bishop  Pearce  in  his  Com- 
mentary, this  text  "  means  not  that  he  would  not  pray  for  his 
apostles  ;  for  he  did  pray  for  them  in  ch.  xvii.  9,  &c  :  but  only 
that  he  had  no  need  to  pray  for  them,  they  being  loved  of  God, 
and  therefore  sure  to  be  heard  by  him."  But  what  force  is  there 
in  this  answer?  Jesus  says  that  he  should  not  pray  for  the 
disciples  after  he  should  have  gone  to  the  Father:  the  commen- 
tator replies,  that  he  did  pray  for  them  before  He  went  to  the 
Father,  in  the  prayer  with  which  he  concluded  this  very  dis- 
course !  And  how  is  this  mended  by  the  Bishop's  saying,  that 
he  only  meant  that  he  had  no  need  to  pray  for  them,  they  being 
loved  of  God,  and  therefore  sure  to  be  heard  by  him  '?  All  the 
commentators  as  well  as  Dr.  Pearce  (whom  I  only  here  quote, 
in  preference,  for  his  pithy  brevity),  admit  Jesus  to  say,  and  to 
mean,  that  his  praying  for  his  people  would  be  useless,  as  it 
would  only  be  urging  the  Father  to  do  what  he  was  equally  dis- 
posed to  do  without  such  solicitation  :  and  yet  they  all  represent 
such  prayer  of  Jesus  to  the  Father,  pleading  in  it  his  sufferings 
and  merit,  to  be,  at  least,  a  part  of  the  intercession  which  He 
is  now  making  in  heaven,  and  will  make  unceasingly  till  the  end 


SCRIPTURE  STATEMENTS  ON  MEDIATION,  &C,  EXPAINED.  303 


of  all  things.  All  represent  the  Saviour  as  perpetually  engaged 
in  an  act,  which,  according  to  his  own  declaration,  and  their  ad- 
mission, is  utterly  unnecessary,  of  no  possible  use,  a  complete 
work  of  supererogation.  Is  such  a  representation  worthy  of  a 
Being  of  Infinite  Wisdom  ?  Occupation  in  trifles — still  more  in 
mere  futilities,  is  universally  regarded  as  a  mark,  in  man,  of 
imbecility  of  mind  :  who  can  reasonably  believe  anything  so  fu- 
tile as  needless  intreaty  to  be  the  unremitting  occupation  of 
the  Eternal  Logos,  the  Divine  Wisdom,  the  Word  made  flesh? 
Certainly,  then,  the  obvious  sense  of  his  previous  statement  is 
the  true  one, — that  He  should  not,  when  in  glory,  be  engaged 
in  praying  for  his  disciples.  Consequently,  his  Intercession  in 
no  degree  consists  in  such  prayer.  It  must  then  consist,  as 
already  explained,  in  his  Divine  Humanity,  as  a  uniting  Medium, 
coming  between  degenerate  man  and  the  otherwise  inaccessible 
Divine  Essence,  and,  in  familiar  language,  managing  the  busi- 
ness of  each  party  with  the  other.  The  business  of  God  with 
man  is,  the  accomplishment  of  the  purposes  of  his  Divine  Love 
and  Wisdom  in  men's  salvation  ;  and  the  business  of  man  with 
God  is,  to  supplicate  and  adore  his  mercy,  receive  his  grace,  and 
to  obtain  with  Him  conjunction  of  life,  and  a  blessed  immor- 
tality :  and  the  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Medium, 
by  the  intervention  of  which  the  purposes  of  Love  and  Wisdom 
for  man's  salvation  are  made  effectual,  by  being  accommodated 
to  his  state  of  apprehension  and  reception  ;  and  man's  reciprocal 
devotion  and  gratitude  can  ascend  to  God,  and  be  made  per- 
ceptible before  his  throne. 

I  have  now,  I  hope,  sufficiently  considered  all  the  passages  of 
the  New  Testament  which  expressly  mention  the  Lord's  Inter- 
cession. There  is  also  one  in  the  Old  Testament,  in  Isaiah  liii. 
12,  which  says  that  "  he  made  intercession  for  the  transgressors  :" 
but  to  this  may  equally  be  applied  what  has  been  said  of  the 
others.  I  trust  it  cannot  fail  to  be  seen,  that  the  ideas  of  the 
Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  Commonly  entertained  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  true, — that  no  supplication  of  one  Divine  Person  to 
another,  with  pleading  of  merits,  and,  as  some  delight  to  repre- 
sent it,  displaying  of  wounds,  can  possibly  be  included  in  the 
true  Scripture  doctrine  on  the  subject.    I  trust  that  the  view  we 


304 


LECTURE  XVIII. 


have  offered  as  the  real  truth, — that  the  Lord's  Intercession  is 
the  coming  in,  or  intervention,  of  his  Divine  Humanity,  as  a 
reconciling  and  conjoining  Medium,  between  the  otherwise  un- 
approachable Divine  Essence  and  man  in  his  present,  by  birth, 
fallen  and  merely  natural  state, — will  also  be  seen  to  be  the  only 
one  that  meets  all  the  conditions  of  the  case.  Many  more  illus- 
trative texts  might  be  examined,  and  corroborative  considerations 
suggested,  would  time  permit :  but  this,  I  apprehend,  will  not 
be  deemed  necessary,  after  the  attention  which  has  been  given 
to  those  which  mention  the  Lord's  Mediation  and  Intercession, 
As  we  have  before  seen,  in  "  the  Man  Christ  Jesus" — the  Divine 
Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ, — we  have  a  Mediator  who  is  ever 
standing  ready  to  communicate  to  us  all  the  blessings  of  salva- 
tion and  eternal  life  ;  in  whom  we  have  a  way  of  access  opened 
to  the  inmost  Divinity,  and  by  conjunction  of  life  with  whom,  we 
have  also  conjunction  with  .  the  Infinite  and  the  Eternal, — with 
Him  who  is  Infinite  and  Eternal  in  the  very  ground  of  his  being. 
He  is  the  Door — the  Medium  of  access, — by  which  if  any  man 
enter  in,  he  shall  go  in  and  out  and  find  pasture.  All  the  graces 
and  blessings  of  the  church,  both  internal  and  external,  shall  be 
enjoyed  by  him,  who  truly  approaches  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as 
his  God  and  Saviour,  and,  as  to  his  Divine  Humanity,  the  Me- 
diator or  Medium  of  communication  between  the  Infinite  and 
Incomprehensible  Godhead  and  frail  and  finite  man ;  and  the 
way  to  approach  Him  truly  is,  by  living  faith,  and  sincere  obe- 
dience. Or,  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  as  we  have  now 
seen,  let  us  make  it  our  great  business  to  avail  ourselves  of  the 
benefits  procured  or  brought  near  to  us  by  the  Intercession  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Thereby,  the  Lord  accommodates  the  influences 
of  his  Spirit,  and  communicates  his  grace,  so  as  to  make  us  in- 
excusable if  we  refuse  to  accept  them  :  let  us  do  so  with  grati- 
tude, re-act  to  them  in  repentance,  faith,  obedience,  and  love ; 
approach  our  God,  thus  accessible  in  his  Humanity,  in  heartfelt 
prayer ;  return  his  mercies  in  devout  acknowledgment ;  and 
enter  into  conjunction  with  Him,  thus  inviting  it  and  making  it 
practicable,  to  his  glory  and  our  benefit,  for  evermore. 


LECTURE  XIX. 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST,  AND  OF  THE  HOLY 
SPIRIT. 


1  John  ii.  1,  2,  and  John  xiv.  16. 

"My  little  children,  these  things  I  write  unto  you  that  ye  sin 
not.  And  if  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  advocate  ivith  the  Father, 
Jesus  Christ  the  right  eotis." 

"J  will  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you  another  Comforter, 
that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever.'''' 

In  our  last  two  Lectures  we  have  considered  the  doctrine  of  the 
Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ,  have  endeavoured 
to  place  that  doctrine  in  its  true  light,  and  have  examined  all 
the  texts  of  Scripture  in  which  either  Mediation  or  Intercession 
is  mentioned  under  those  names.  We  have  seen  that  it  is  as  to 
his  Divine  Humanity,  called  by  the  Apostle,  "  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus,"  that  the  Lord  is  our  Mediator  and  Intercessor  ;  because, 
according  to  the  primitive  meanir%  of  the  original  words,  a 
Mediator  is  one  who  stands  between,  and  an  Intercessor  is  one 
who  comes  between,  any  two  parties,  who  transacts  the  business 
of  one  with  the  other,  mutually  communicates  their  wishes  and 
requirements,  and,  where  they  are  at  variance,  brings  them  into 
a  state  of  agreement ;  and  the  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ 
acts  as  a  Medium,  by  which,  on  the  one  hand,  the  divine 
operations  for  man's  salvation  are  modified  and  dispensed,  in  a 
manner  suited  to  his  capacity  of  reception,  so  as  to  operate  upon 
him  with  adequate  effect,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  wants, 
desires,  and  aspirations  of  man  are  brought  before  the  throne  of 
God,  so  as  to  obtain  hearing,  relief,  and  acceptance.  Thus  the 
Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  are  not  the  agency 
20 


306 


LECTURE  XIX. 


of  a  separate  person,  either  pleading  or  otherwise  communi- 
cating with  God,  for  man,  or  with  man  for  God,  as  a  human 
mediator  or  intercessor  would  plead  or  negotiate  between  two 
other  men ;  but  the  Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ 
exactly  answer  to  the  operations  of  the  body  of  man,  with  its 
senses  and  members,  as  mediating  between  his  spirit  or  mind 
and  other  persons  and  things  in  the  world,  effecting  a  commu- 
nication between  them  which  could  no  otherwise  exist,  making 
that  existence  and  presence  reciprocally  perceived  or  experienced, 
conveying  the  purposes  and  decisions  of  the  mind  of  one  man  to 
another,  and  those  of  that  other  to  the  former,  and  enabling 
the  mind  also  to  accomplish  what  it  may  desire,  so  far  as  prac- 
ticable, in  regard  to  animals  and  inanimate  objects.  The  Divine 
Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  mediates  between  the  Divine  Essence 
and  men  on  earth,  in  a  manner  exactly  analogous  to  that  in 
which  the  body  of  man  mediates  between  his  mind  and  spirit 
within  him  and  the  world  around  him  ;  and  because  the  Divine 
Logos  or  Word,  as  this  existed  before  the  incarnation,  was  no 
longer  adequate  to  operate  savingly  upon  man,  when  man  had 
so  far  withdrawn  himself, — when  he  had  so  buried  his  mind  in 
his  body,  and  immersed  himself  so  entirely  in  the  sphere  of 
mere  nature,  as  was  then  and  now  the  case, — therefore  the 
Word,  the  Eternal  Logos — was  made  flesh, — assumed  Humanity 
when  human  nature  had  sunk  into  the  lowest  state  in  which  it 
possibly  could  sink  without  ceasing  to  be  human  at  all,  purified 
the  assumed  Humanity  from  all  defilement,  and  at  length  glori- 
fied it  or  made  it  Divine  ;  thence  to  re-open  the  communication 
between  fallen  man  and  the  pure  Divine  Essence,  of  which  the 
glorified  Humanity  had  become  the  Manifested  Form,  and  which 
resided  therein,  and  thence  communicated  the  aids  of  the  Spirit 
or  the  divine  influences,  by  which  man  is  regenerated  and  saved. 
And,  as  we  have  repeatedly  stated,  it  is  this  which  is  called  the 
Mediator,  and  which  is  said  to  make  Intercession  for  us,  be- 
cause it  is  the  Medium  which  comes  as  it  were  between  the 
naked  Divinity  and  the  human  race,  and  restores  the  broken 
connexion  between  them, 

As  I  began  with  observing,  I  fully  explained  this  in  our  last 
two  Lectures,  in  the  latter  of  which  I  examined  all  the  texts 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  307 

in  which  either  the  Mediatorship  or  the  Intercession  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  named.  That  examination,  I  apprehend,  was  of  itself 
sufficient  to  establish  all  that  was  advanced.  I  observed,  how- 
ever, that  many  more  illustrative  texts  might  be  referred  to, 
and  corroborative  considerations  suggested  ;  and  though  I  then 
did  not  propose  to  do  so,  as  not  in  itself  necessary,  yet  I  have 
since  thought  it  might  be  useful  to  advert  to  one  or  two  more, 
which  are  commonly  regarded  as  supporting  the  popular  erro- 
neous notions  of  the  Lord's  intercession,  together  with  another 
or  two  which  luminously  substantiate  the  doctrine  which,  we 
have  endeavoured  to  show,  expresses  the  genuine  truth  upon  the 
subject. 

The  popular  notions  of  the  Lord's  Intercession  are,  as  I 
stated  in  our  last  Lecture,  and  as  is  generally  known,  that  it 
consists  in  the  Son's  intreating  the  Father  in  behalf  of  man- 
kind, pleading  the  merits  of  his  sufferings  and  death,  and,  as  is 
often  eloquently  averred  and  dwelt  upon,  displaying  his  wounds, 
to  induce  the  Father  to  have  mercy  upon  those,  for  whom  all 
this  was  undergone  by  his  Son.  But  I  quoted  the  statements 
of  the  principal  orthodox  commentators  on  the  meaning  of  the 
original  word  translated  in  our  Bible  "to  make  intercession," 
and  showed  that  all  the  most  learned  of  them  admit,  that  the 
sense  of  intreating  or  supplicating  is  not  necessarily  included  in 
it,  but  that  its  primitive  meaning  is,  "  to  go  between  any  two 
parties,  to  transact  any  one's  business  with  another."  This,  we 
have  seen,  perfectly  agrees  with  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Lord's 
Intercession,  as  I  have  now,  again,  briefly  explained  it.  We 
have  also  shown,  that  the  same  original  word  is  applied,  in  each 
case  twice,  both  to  Jesus  Christ  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  is, 
in  all  cases  alike,  translated  in  the  English  Bible  by  making 
intercession.  The  orthodox  commentators,  however,  we  have 
seen,  will  not  allow  that,  applied  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  this  is  its 
proper  meaning.  In  this  application,  Doddridge,  we  have  no- 
ticed, translates  it  by  manages  our  affairs;  being  a  familiar 
form  of  what  Bloomfield  and  all  learned  men  admit  to  be  the 
primitive  meaning  of  both  the  original  Greek  word,  and  of  the 
Latin  word  from  which  we  take  our  intercede  ;  and  which  mean- 
ing Johnson  assigns  as  the  proper  signification  of  the  English 


308 


LECTURE  XIX. 


intercede  itself.  Yet,  when  applied  to  Jesus  Christ,  all  the 
commentators  retain  the  rendering  of  making  intercession,  and 
though  some  of  them  state  justly  the  primitive  meaning  of  the 
original  word,  they  all  here  write  as  if  its  principal  meaning 
was  that  of  making  supplication.  But,  as  we  have  shown,  there 
is  no  need  for  this  refining  and  distinguishing ;  for,  in  its  primi- 
tive meaning,  the  word  is  equally  applicable  to  the  Intercession 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  Apostle 
made  no  mistake  in  using  the  same  term  to  describe  the  divine 
operations  of  both,  because  they  are  not  the  operations  of  two 
divine  persons,  but  of  one  only. 

But  there  is  a  passage  which,  although  the  word  "interces- 
sion" does  not  occur  in  it,  manifestly  means  the  same  thing, 
and  which  is  much  dwelt  upon  by  writers  on  the  subject ;  and 
to  which,  therefore,  we  will  now  direct  some  attention.  It  is 
that  which  I  have  read  in  the  text :  in  which  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple says,  "If  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  advocate  with  the 
Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous."  Of  course,  the  Apostle 
does  not  write  this  to  encourage  any  one  to  sin.  As  he  pre- 
viously says,  "Little  children,  these  things  I  write  unto  you 
that  ye  sin  not."  But  lest  any  should  thence  conclude,  that 
if,  though  endeavouring  habitually  to  guard  against  sin,  they 
should  at  any  time  be  overtaken  by  an  unintentional  fault,  they 
are  excluded  from  their  hopes  of  salvation,  he  reminds  them  (if 
their  sin  has  not  been  wilful,  if  they  repent  of  it,  and  purpose 
to  guard  against  the  like  in  future),  that  they  have,  in  and  from 
Jesus  Christ, — the  essential  Righteous  One,  and  the  Author  of 
righteousness  to  all  who  look  to  Him, — all  that  is  necessary  for 
their  recovery  from  their  fall,  and  the  means  of  returning  into 
communion  with  the  Essential  Godhead  in  Him. 

But  it  is  not  my  intention,  at  present,  to  dwell  upon  the 
practical  lesson  thus  taught,  further  than  is  necessary  to  guard 
it  against  being  misunderstood  or  perverted :  I  wish,  chiefly,  to 
consider  the  title  here  given  to  Jesus  Christ,  of  "our  Advocate 
with  the  Father." 

L  I  have  adverted  to  the  objection  made  by  Doddridge  and 
Bloomfield  to  the  idea  of  an  Intercessor  in  relation  to  the  Holy 
Ghost;  and  I  stated  in  the  former  Lecture,  that  Doddridge 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  309 


makes  this  objection,  because,  as  he  says,  "the  office  of  an 
Intercessor  with  God  is  so  peculiarly  that  of  Christ,  our  advocate 
with  the  Father."  So  Bloomfield,  we  found,  objects  to  the  term 
advocate,  applied  to  the  Hoby  Spirit  by  the  authors  he  quotes, 
because  it,  "in  fact,  comes  to  the  same  thing  as  intercessor." 
This  term  "advocate,"  applied  to  Jesus  Christ,  occurs  in  the 
English  Bible  only  once,  and  that  is  in  the  verse  of  John's 
'first  Epistle  which  I  have  now  taken  as  a  text.  But,  strange  to 
say,  though  some  of  the  commentators  are  so  anxious  to  claim 
this  epithet  as  exclusively  a  title  of  the  Saviour,  the  original 
word  here  so  rendered,  is,  precisely  as  is  the  case  with  the  word 
for  intercede,  equalby  applied  to  the  Holy  Ghost :  and  that,  much 
more  frequently.  It  is  no  other  than  the  word  Paracletos, 
which  has  been  anglicized  into  Paraclete;  and  which,  in  the 
gospel,  our  translators  constantly  render  the  Comforter.  What- 
ever may  be  its  proper  meaning,  the  Gospel  of  John  applies  it 
four  times  to  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  this  first  Epistle  of  John 
applies  it  once  to  Jesus  Christ."  And  it  occurs  no  where  else 
in  the  whole  Bible.  Certain  then  it  is,  that  both  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  Jesus  Christ  are  equally  the,  or  a,  Paraclete.  What 
does  a  Paraclete  mean  ? 

That  the  original  word  sometimes  occurs  in  ancient  Greek 
writers  in  the  sense  of  a  Comforter,  is  undisputed  ;  and  that  it  is 
in  imparting  comfort  or  consolation  that  the  influences  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  are  greatly  exercised,  is  equally  acknowledged  ;  on 
which  account  it  is,  that  our  translators  have  designated  the 
Holy  Spirit  the  Comforter,  this  being  one  of  the  meanings  of 
the  word,  which  I  shall  repeat  in  its  English  form,  Paraclete. 
But  the  original  word  signified,  more  generally,  a  Teacher,  and 
an  Interpreter  of  another  person's  discourse  or  meaning  ;  and  in 
this  sense,  philologers  affirm  it  to  be  established  beyond  doubt, 
that  this  identical  Greek  word,  in  a  Hebrew  form,  had  been 
introduced  into  the  Syriac  dialect  spoken  by  the  Lord  and  his 
apostles,  and  was  the  very  term  made  use  of  by  Him  in  his  long 
discourse,  related  in  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth 
chapters  of  John,  in  which  it  is  four  times  given  to  the  Holy 
Spirit.  And  the  celebrated  lexicographer,  Schleusner,  from  whom 
I  take  this  statement,  adds,  "  Hence  (as  was  correctly  seen  by 


310 


LECTURE  XIX. 


the  ancient  father,  Tertullian,),  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  that  divine 
power  which  assisted  the  apostles  to  discharge  their  office,  is 
called  the  Paraclete,  as  being  the  interpreter  to  the  Apostles  of 
the  divine  will,  their  teacher,  and  counsellor."  The  Greek  word 
also  has  a  third  meaning,  in  which  it  signifies  "  a  patron,  an 
advocate,  or  a  person  called  and  requested  to  befriend  and  assist 
any  one  before  a  judge ;  and  more  generally,  without  reference 
to  any  matter  of  law,  any  one  who  manages  another's  business 
protects  him  in  circumstances  of  danger  or  difficulty,  and  affords 
him  counsel  and  aid."  And  according  to  this  very  learned  in- 
terpreter, the  latter  is  the  sense  of  the  word  when  Jesus  Christ 
is  called  "our  Paraclete  with  the  Father,"  in  the  passage  now 
under  consideration.  He  is  so  called,  because  he  manages  the 
penitent  sinner's  business,  protects  him  in  circumstances  of  danger 
or  difficulty,  and  affords  him  counsel  and  aid."  And  this,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  exactly  the  office  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity, 
which  is  the  Medium  of  communication  between  man  and  the 
Essential  Divinity,  and  by  the  operation  of  which  alone  it  is, 
that  we  are  enabled  to  rise  from  our  lapses,  and  to  be  re-instated 
in  our  privileges  as  children  of  God. 

Even  Doddridge  corroborates  all  that  has  now  been  advanced 
as  to  the  proper  meaning  of  the  original  word,  though  much 
more  has  since  been  brought  forward  to  illustrate  it  than  was 
easily  accessible  in  his  time.  Anxious  as,  we  have  seen,  he  was, 
when  commenting  on  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans,  to  claim 
the  title  of  Advocate  as  exclusively  belonging  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  when  he  comes,  after  writing  two  more  volumes  of  his 
work,  to  the  text  in  which  alone,  in  the  English  Bible,  that 
word  is  introduced,  he  acknowledges  that  it  is  only  the  English 
sense  of  the  word  Advocate  that  suits  the  common  view,  and 
that  the  original  word  has  a  more  general  sense,  which  is  more 
truly  that  of  the  text  in  question.  He  says,  "  The  word  Advo- 
cate, in  our  language,  commonly  signifies  one  who  is  to  plead  for 
a  person  in  a  court  of  judicature  ;  but  Dr.  S.  Harris  has  taken 
great  pains  to  show,  that  it  properly  signifies  the  same  with 
patron  among  the  Romans, — a  great  person  who  used  to  patro- 
nize the  cause  of  some  of  inferior  rank,  and  was  also  a  sponsor  for 
their  good  behaviour. — Perhaps  [adds  Dr.  D.]  there  is  nothing 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  311 

that  illustrates  the  matter  more,  than  the  residence  of  some 
eminent  persons  from  distant  provinces  in  the  courts  of  great 
princes  or  states,  whose  business  it  was  constantly  to  negotiate 
with  them  the  affairs  of  those  whom  they  represented,  to  vindi- 
cate them  from  any  unjust  aspersions,  and  to  advance  their 
interests  to  the  utmost  of  their  power."  Thus  Dr.  Doddridge, 
though  protesting  against  it  before,  when  commenting  on  Rom. 
viii.,  now,  when  annotating  on  the  first  Epistle  of  John,  gives  a 
similar  account  of  the  advocacy  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  had  then 
given  of  the  intercession  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  then  said, 
instead  of  speaking  of  the  spirit  as  making  intercession,  that 
"He  manages  affairs  for  the  saints:"  he  now  says,  that  Jesus 
Christ,  as  our  Advocate,  is  like  those  residents  at  courts, 
"whose  business  it  was  to  negotiate  the  affairs  of  those  whom 
they  represented."  Thus  he  at  last  admits,  that  the  interces- 
sion of  Jesus  Christ  is  substantially  the  same  as  the  intercession 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  Dr.  Bloomfield,  in  his  annotations  on 
the  same  text,  quotes  this  passage  with  approbation ;  and  so, 
does  even  Dr.  Macknight.  So  also,  before  Dr.  Doddridge  had 
discovered  the  necessity,  to  support  the  common  doctrine,  of 
distinguishing  so  widely  as  he  did,  when  paraphrasing  and 
annotating  on  Rom.  viii.  26,  27,  between  the  intercession  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  confining  the 
office  of  our  Advocate  to  Jesus  Christ  alone,  he  said,  in  his  note 
on  John  xiv.  16,  where  "the  Comforter"  is  first  mentioned, 
"It  is  well  known  that  the  word  Paraclete  may  signify  a  com- 
forter, an  advocate,  or  a  monitor ;  and  it  is  evident  the  blessed 
Spirit  sustained  each  of  these  characters :"  This  is  very  true  ; 
but  how  does  it  agree  with  his  subsequent  assertion,  that  "  the 
office  of  an  Intercessor  with  God  is  so  peculiarly  that  of  Christ, 
our  advocate  with  the  Father?"  So  difficult  it  is  for  error  to  be 
consistent.  However,  at  one  time  or  other  he  admits,  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  our  Advocate  in  the  same  sense  as  Jesus  Christ  is 
our  Advocate,  which  cannot  be  by  their  both  making  supplica- 
tion for  us  as  separate  Persons  from  the  Father ;  and  that  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word  advocate  when  applied  to  both  is,  one 
whose  business  it  is  to  negotiate  the  affairs  of  those  for  whom  he  is 
concerned.    Thus  it  is  confessed,  that  the  Advocacy  ascribed 


312 


LECTURE  XIX. 


both  to  Jesus  Christ  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit  is  exactly  the  same 
thing  as  the  Intercession  equally  ascribed  to  both,  and  which 
Doddridge  had  defined  to  be  the  managing  of  the  affairs  of  man 
with  God  and  of  God  with  man  ;  and  this,'  we  have  fully  seen, 
is  the  operation  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  aiding  man  by 
the  Spirit  thence  proceeding,  on  the  one  hand,  and  opening  to 
man,  on  the  other,  by  approaching  the  Lord  in  his  Divine 
Humanity,  a  way  of  access  to  the  Inmost  of  Deity,  denominated 
the  Father.  And  this  is  not  effected  by  any  supplication  ad- 
dressed by  the  Son  to  the  Father,  any  more  than  a  request 
made  by  one  man  to  another  through  the  medium  of  his  body, 
when  conveyed  by  the  body  to  the  mind  within  it,  is  granted  in 
consequence  of  any  supplication  made  by  the  body  to  the  mind. 
The  notion  of  supplication  is  as  preposterous  in  the  one  case  as 
in  the  other :  for  though  the  body  and  the  soul,  to  which  the 
mind  belongs,  are  not  the  same  thing,  yet,  together,  they  form 
a  one :  the  soul  imparts  its  life  to  the  body,  and  the  body,  by 
its  senses,  transmits  its  perceptions  to  the  mind  and  soul.  Thus 
the  mind  knows  all  that  occurs  within  the  sphere  of  the  senses 
of  the  body,  and  the  body  speaks  and  acts,  from  the  determina- 
tions of  the  mind,  to  persons  and  on  things  around  it.  And 
this  is  a  just  image  of  the  Advocacy,  which  is,  in  fact,  the  same 
thing  as  the  Intercession,  which  again  is  the  same  thing  as  the 
Mediation,  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  statement  then  of  the  Apostle  John,  that  in  Jesus  Christ 
"we  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father,"  does  not  at  all,  we  see, 
sanction  the  notion,  that  his  Intercession  consists  in  intreating 
the  Father,  as  another  Divine  Person,  on  behalf  of  men,  plead- 
ing for  them  the  merits  of  his  sufferings  and  death.  And  yet, 
although,  when  they  who  regard  this  as  the  true  doctrine  on  the 
subject,  candidly  examine,  by  the  light  of  sound  learning,  the 
Scripture  words  and  phrases  commonly  understood  as  teaching 
it,  they  are  obliged  to  acknowledge  that  the  most  important  of 
those  words  do  not,  in  their  primitive  and  proper  sense,  mean 
any  such  thing, — they  still  cleave  to  the  notion,  that  the  Inter- 
cession of  Jesus  Christ  is,  nevertheless,  such  a  pleading  with  the 
Father.  This  has  led  me  to  examine  on  what  other  passage  or 
passages  they  think  themselves  entitled  to  affirm  such  pleading, 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  313 


I  have  only  been  able  to  find  one,  generally  referred  to.  Some 
of  the  less  scrupulous  partizans  of  the  notion  may  allege  others  ; 
but,  as  far  as  I  can  discover,  the  respectable  and  learned  exposi- 
tors whom  I  have  consulted  only,  with  the  exception  of  Dr. 
Macknight,  adduce  one ;  and  many  of  them  do  not  even  do 
this.  All,  however,  without  looking  for  proof,  or  while  in  effect 
admitting  that  all  proof  fails  them,  seem  to  take  the  doctrine  for 
granted,  on  the  bare  authority  of  those  who  have  affirmed  it 
before  them,  and  who  framed  the  creeds  of  their  respective 
churches. 

Dr.  Macknight  seems  to  be  the  person,  among  respectable 
commentators,  who  goes  farthest  in  this  way.  He  finds  the 
doctrine  he  wishes  to  support  in  texts  which  have  nothing  of  the 
kind,  far  more  frequently  than  Beza  himself,  whom  he  justly 
censures  for  doing  so ;  and  he  strains  passages  out  of  their  pro- 
per meaning  still  more  violently  than  that  unscrupulous  partizan 
of  Calvinism.  As  then,  right  or  wrong,  he  says  more  than 
most  others  for  the  popular  doctrine,  which  they  all  wish  to 
maintain,  it  is  from  him  that  I  will  take  some  quotations  on  the 
subject. 

In  a  note  on  Heb.  vii.  25,  about  the  Saviour's  "  always  living 
to  make  intercession  for  them,"  which  we  made  the  text  of  our 
last  Lecture,  Dr.  Macknight  thus  states  his  views  of  the  nature 
of  that  intercession.  "  The  nature  of  the  Apostle's  argument 
requires,  that  by  Christ's  always  livi?ig,xve  understand  his  always 
living  in  the  body.  For  it  is  thus  that  he  is  an  affectionate  and 
sympathizing  High  Priest,  who  in  his  intercession  pleads  the 
merit  of  his  death,  to  procure  the  salvation  of  all  who  come  to 
God  through  him. — The  apostle  mentions  (ver.  27)  the  sacrifice 
of  himself,  which  Christ  offered  for  the  sins  of  the  people,  as 
the  foundation  of  his  intercession.  Now,  as  he  offered  that 
sacrifice  in  heaven  (ch.  viii.  2,  3),  by  presenting  his  crucified 
body  there  (see  ch.  viii.  5,  note),  and  as  he  continually  resides 
there  in  the  body,  some  of  the  ancients  were  of  opinion,  that  his 
continual  intercession  consists  in  the  continual  presentation  of 
his  humanity  before  the  Father;  because  it  is  a  continual  decla- 
ration of  his  earnest  desire  of  the  salvation  of  men,  and  of  his 
having,  in  obedience  to  his  Father's  will,  made  himself  flesh  and 


314 


LECTURE  XIX. 


suffered  death  to  accomplish  it."  Here  our  expositor  affirms, 
not  only  that  the  Saviour  pleads  the  merit  of  his  death,  but 
also  that  he  offered  that  sacrifice  in  heaven,  by  presenting  his 
crucified  body  there,  as  his  continual  intercession,  before  the 
Father :  and  we  are  referred  for  satisfaction  as  to  all  this  (of 
which  nothing  is  said  in  the  passage  to  which  this  note  is 
appended),  to  ch.  viii.  2,  3,  and  the  note  on  ch.  viii.  5.  In  the 
original,  and  in  the  common  translation,  nothing  of  the  sort  is 
said  in  ch.  viii.  2,3;  though  this  translator  foists  in  the  words, 
in  heaven,  at  the  end  of  ver.  3,  and  endeavors  to  defend  the 
interpolation  in  a  note,  in  which  he  says,  "  The  sacrifice  of  him- 
self— he  actually  offered  in  heaven,  by  appearing  before  the 
throne  of  God  in  the  body  wherein  he  suffered. — And  that  this 
was  a  real  offering  of  himself  a  sacrifice  to  God,  is  evident  from 
Heb.  ix.  24,  where  we  are  told  that  Christ,  after  suffering  death 
on  earth,  did  not  enter  into  the  holy  -places  made  with  hands,  the 
likenesses  of  the  true  holy  places,  but  into  heaven  itself,  there  to 
appear  before  the  face  of  God  on  our  behalf.  And  to  show  that, 
by  so  appearing,  Christ  offered  himself  a  sacrifice  to  God,  the 
apostle  adds  immediately  (ver.  25),  not  however  that  he  should 
offer  himself  often.  Wherefore  Christ's  presenting  himself  in 
his  crucified  body  before  the  throne  of  God,  being  a  real  offering 
of  himself  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  us,  we  are  said  (Heb.  x.  10),  to 
be  sanctified  through  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ 
once.  We  are  again,  however,  referred  to  the  note  on  ver  6. 
In  that  verse  itself  there  is  nothing  on  the  subject.  In  the  part 
of  the  note  referred  to,  the  commentator  says,  that  "  Christ — 
arose  in  the  body  in  which  he  had  been  put  to  death,  and 
entered — into  heaven  itself  (Heb.  ix.  24), — '  by  his  own  blood,' 
or  death  (Heb.  ix.  12),  which  he  manifested  by  offering,  that  is, 
by  presenting  in  the  presence  of  God,  his  body  (Heb.  x.  10), 
bearing  the  marks  of  the  violence  whereby  he  had  been  put  to 
death  on  earth  ;  that  being  the  only  method  in  which  his  death 
on  earth  could  be  manifested  in  heaven  to  the  angelical  hosts." 
He  then  strangely  argues,  "  That  Christ  actually  appeared  be- 
fore the  presence  of  God  in  heaven  in  the  body  wherein  he 
suffered,  and  that  his  body  had  then  the  wounds  which  occa- 
sioned his  death ,  may  be  gathered  from  his  showing  to  his  dis- 


* 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  315 

ciples,  on  the  day  he  arose  from  the  dead,  his  hands  and  his 
feet,  and  his  side."  (!)  And  he  quotes  from  Estius  and  Ambrose 
an  assertion,  that  "  the  wounds  which  Christ's  body  received  on 
the  cross  were  kept  open,  in  order  to  its  being  presented  before 
the  Father  as  crucified  and  slain."  "If  so  [he  concludes],  the 
atonement  being  thus  made,  it  was  changed  into  its  glorious  form 
mentioned  Phil.  iii.  2."  Again,  at  the  close  of  a  note  on  Heb. 
ix.  5,  this  expositor  says,  "Into  this  holy  place,  the  habitation 
of  the  Deity,  Jesus,  after  his  ascension,  entered,  as  the  apostle 
assures  us,  ver,  12.  And  by  presenting  his  crucified  body  there 
(ch.  x.  10)  before  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  presence, 
called  the  throne  of  he  Majesty  in  the  heavens,  (ch.  viii.  1),  he 
offered  the  sacrifice  of  himself  to  God.  And  having  thus  made 
atonement  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  he  procured  for  penitent 
sinners  an  eternal  pardon  (ch.  ix.  12.)"  He  repeats  the  same 
assertions  in  notes  on  ch.  ix.  24,  and  ch.  x.  10. 

Now  all  this  is  scarcely  anything  better  than  purely  gratuitous 
assertion.  In  all  the  passages  thus  quoted  or  referred  to  by  this 
commentator,  in  support  of  his  notion  that  the  intercession  of  Jesus 
Christ  mainly  consists,  beside  "pleading  the  merit  of  his  death," 
in  "presenting  his  crucified  body  in  heaven,"  and  "  in  the  con- 
tinual presentation  of  his  humanity  before  the  Father,"  there  is 
only  one  which  is  at  all  to  the  purpose.  This  is  Heb.  ix.  24, 
which  says,  "For  Christ  is  not  entered  into  the  holy  places 
made  with  hands,  which  are  the  figures  of  the  true,  but  into 
heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us." 
But  does  this  in  any  degree  amount  to  Dr.  Macknight's  pre- 
tended inference  from  it,  that  he  "presented  his  crucified  body 
there,"  with  "  the  wounds  which  occasioned  his  death  ?"  Can 
it  be  imagined,  that  anything  literally  answering  to  the  carnal 
sacrifices  of  the  Levitical  law,  and  even  far  exceeding  them  in 
grossness,  can  be  intended  by  the  Apostle's  statement  that 
Christ  appears  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us?  All  such  fancies 
must  vanish  into  air,  when  it  is  observed,  as  is  the  truth,  that, 
throughout  this  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  or  Jews,  the  Apostle,  to 
meet  their  previous  modes  of  thinking,  points  out  analogies, — 
not  things  the  same  in  kind,  but  things  correspondingly  answering 
to  each  other  in  a  far  different  sphere, — between  their  temple- 


316 


LECTURE  XIX. 


worship  and  the  services  of  the  high-priests,  and  the  Christian 
religion  and  the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  the  Jewish 
high-priest  entered  once  a  year  into  the  holy  of  holies  in  the 
tabernacle  and  temple,  to  bring  the  worship  of  the  people,  as 
was  considered,  immediately  before  Jehovah,  or  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  God  for  them  ;  wherefore  the  Apostle  says,  that 
"  Christ  is  not  entered  into  holy  places  made  by  hands,  which 
are  the  figures  of  the  true,  but  into  heaven  itself,  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  God  for  us  ;"  by  which  he  means  to  teach,  that 
what  the  Jewish  high-priest  did  in  figure,  or  representatively, 
Jesus  Christ  does  really  ;  thus,  in  a  totally  different  manner. 
As  the  holy  places  into  which  the  Jewish  high-priests  entered 
"  were  the  figures  of  the  true,  so  were  all  things  that  they  did 
or  performed,  in  those  representative  ceremonies,  "  figures  of  the 
true."  As  mortal  men  could  no  otherwise  be  mediums  of  com- 
munication between  other  men  and  God  than  by  acts  of  worship 
and  supplication,  the  services  of  the  Jewish  priests  could  only 
represent  the  true  mediation  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  of  a  very  different  nature.  When  he 
is  said,  as  to  his  Divine  Humanity,  to  appear  in  the  presence  of 
God  for  us,  it  does  not  mean  that  he  appears,  as  the  mortal 
high-priest  necessarily  did,  as  a  separate  person,  but  that  his 
Humanity  entered  into  full  union  with  his  Divinity,  so  as  to  be 
one  Person  therewith,  rendering  approach  to  the  Essential  Di- 
vinity Itself,  thus  clothed  with  Humanity,  and  the  communica- 
tion of  saving  mercies  therefrom,  privileges  thenceforth  to  be 
enjoyed  by  men. 

After  this  slight  review,  I  cannot  but  believe  that  every  un- 
prejudiced mind  will  admit,  that  there  is  really  no  Scripture 
evidence  for  the  popular  and  gross  notions  of  the  Intercession 
and  Advocacy  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  our  Advocate  with  the 
Father,  not  because  he  prays  or  pleads  for  us,  either  verbally  or 
by  displaying  his  crucified  body,  but  because  his  Divine  Hu- 
manity affords  to  us  a  way  of  access  to  the  Inmost  Divinity, 
presents  our  God  to  us  in  a  conceivable  and  approachable  form, 
and  efficiently  dispenses  to  us  "grace  to  help  in  every  time  of 
need."  "I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life :  no  man 
cometh  to  the  Father  but  by  me"  [John  xiv.  6].    In  the  Divine 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  317 

Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  God  is  offered  to  our  adoration, 
not  only  in  a  conceivable  and  approachable  form,  but  also  in  an 
aspect  of  tenderness  and  mercy.  That  Divine  Principle  deno- 
minated the  Father,  which,  most  specifically,  is  the  Inmost  Di- 
vine Love,  is  rendered  apprehensible  to  us  as  Love  indeed ;  not 
as  a  Being  of  wrath  and  vengeance,  which,  in  our  fallen  and 
sinful  state,  we  could  not  but  regard  him  to  be,  were  we  not 
enabled  to  see  him  in  his  true  character  in  the  Divine  Humanity 
of  Jesus  Christ ;  who  in  this  respect  is  truly  our  Advocate  with 
and  actually,  according  to  his  answer  to  Philip  (John  xiv.  9), 
showeth  us,  the  Father.  It  is  thus  that  he  is  both  our  Advocate 
— our  Paraclete,  and  that  He  hath  entered  into  the  presence  of 
God  for  us.  The  manifestation  of  the  presence  of  God  in 
heaven,  the  Jews  always  considered  to  be  a  radiant  glory  of 
ineffable  splendour,  called  by  them  Shechinah :  into  this  pre- 
sence of  God,  Jesus  Christ,  or  the  Divine  Humanity,  entered  at 
his  ascension ;  and  there  He  will  ever  appear  to  the  eye  of  true 
faith,  manifesting  our  God  to  us  such  as  He  really  is,  and  ac- 
cepting all  who  approach  Him  in  sincerity  as  subjects  of  his 
mercy. 

II.  It  has  already  been  shown  in  this  Lecture,  that  as  Inter- 
cession is  alike  attributed  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself  and 
to  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  reason  that  they  are  not  two  distinct 
Persons  but  One  ;  so  the  office  of  our  Advocate  is  equally  as- 
cribed to  both.  But  I  have  not  yet  examined  any  of  the  texts 
in  which  this  title  is  applied  to  the  Holy  Ghost ; — in  other  words 
in  which  he  is  called  the  Paraclete,  for  which,  when  so  applied, 
our  translator  have  used  the  term,  the  Comforter.  I  will  now, 
therefore,  proceed  to  make  some  observations  on  those  texts, 
and  will  endeavor  to  show  what  is  their  true  meaning,  and  how 
justly  they  are  descriptive  of  the  true  Holy  Spirit — the  Life- 
giving  and  Salvation-operating  Energy  proceeding  from  the 
Divine  Humanity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

I  have  already  stated,  on  the  authority  of  writers  of  the  most 
profound  attainments  in  biblical  literature  and  criticism,  that 
"the word  Paraclete"  not  only  signifies  a  Comforter,  but,  more 
generally,  a  Teacher,  and  an  Interpreter  of  another  person's 
discourse  or  meaning  ;  so  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  that  Divine 


318  LECTURE  XIX. 

Power  which  assisted  the  apostles  to  discharge  their  office,  is 
called  the  Paraclete,  as  being  the  interpreter  to  the  apostles  of 
the  divine  will,  their  teacher  and  counsellor. 

In  citing  the  texts,  I  shall  retain  the  original  word,  in  its 
English  shape  of  Paraclete,  instead  of  the  Comforter  given  in  the 
English  Bible,  and  which,  as  we  have  seen,  very  inadequately 
expresses  the  sense  of  the  original.  The  first  place  in  which  the 
word  Paraclete  occurs  is  in  John  xiv.  16,  which  I  have  read  in 
the  text.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  having  previously  informed 
his  diciples  that  he  was  about  to  leave  them,  as  to  his  personal 
presence,  and  go  to  his  Father,  says,  there  and  in  two  subse- 
quent verses,  "I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you 
another  Paraclete  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever:  even  the 
Spirit  of  truth  ;  whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because  it  seeth 
him  not,  neither  knoweth  him :  but  ye  know  him  ;  for  he 
dwelleth  with  you  and  shall  be  in  you.  I  will  not  leave  you 
comfortless :  I  will  come  to  you."  What  the  office  of  this 
Paraclete  would  be,  any  further  than  that  he  was  to  be  a  Spirit 
of  truth — the  Truth  as  a  Living  Principle,  is  not  here  defined  ; 
but,  what  is  of  still  greater  importance,  it  is  plainly  stated,  that 
he  was  not  to  be  a  different  person  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  is  the  Speaker  of  these  words,  but,  under  another  manifes- 
tation Jesus  Christ  Himself.  The  Lord  tells  the  disciples,  that 
they  already  knew  this  other  Paraclete  ;  for  that  he  at  that  time 
dwelt  with  them,  and  should  be  in  them.  Now  it  is  certain  that 
the  Spirit  of  truth  did  not  at  that  time  dwell  with  them  except 
in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ :  for  it  is  expressly  said  in  the 
seventh  chapter,  that  "  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given." 
They  then  well  knew  Jesus  Christ  as  to  his  outward  person,  in 
which  He  at  that  time  dwelt  with  them,  and  in  which  the  Spirit, 
that  descended  on  Him  at  his  baptism,  dwelt  with  them  also : 
but  the  Spirit  did  not  proceed  out  of  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ, 
so  as  to  be  in  the  disciples,  as  is  here  promised  should  be  the 
case,  till  his  Humanity  was  glorified.  In  saying,  therefore,  that 
the  disciples  then  knew  this  other  Paraclete,  the  Spirit  of  truth, 
for  that  he  dwelt  with  them,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  identifies  the 
Spirit  as  one  with  Himself.  But  He  puts  their  oneness  beyond 
all  doubt,  when  He  immediately  adds,  in  the  plainest  terms, 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  319 

"I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless  (the  original  word  probably 
means  destitute — like  orphans) :  J  will  come  to  you."  Thus  He 
first  tells  his  disciples  that  He  would  send  them  "another  Para- 
clete ;"  and  then  He  explains  that  this  will  be,  not  another  per- 
son, but  Himself,  under  another  mode  of  manifestation, — not  as 
a  person  dwelling  with  them,  but  as  a  Spirit  abiding  in  them. 
"  I  will  not  leave  you  destitute, — like  fatherless  children, — /  will 
come  to  you." 

This  "other  Paraclete,"  then,  is,  indisputably,  no  other  than 
Jesus  Christ  Himself,  dwelling  in  his  people  by  his  Spirit — his 
Divine  Proceeding — his  Out-flowing,  Life-giving  Energy  :  well 
therefore  may  a  tide  be  given  to  this  Spirit — the  title  of  the 
Paraclete — which  is  also  given  to  Jesus  Christ  Himself. 

The  next  passage  where  the  Paraclete  is  mentioned,  is  in  the 
26th  verse  of  the  same  chapter.  Jesus  having  first  said,  (ver.  25), 
"  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  being  yet  present  with 
you,"  there  adds,  "  But  the  Paraclete,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all 
things  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I 
have  said  unto  you."  Here  it  is  expressly  taught,  that  the 
Paraclete  is  a  Teacher  and  a  Remembrancer.  What  he  brings 
to  remembrance  are  the  things  verbally  spoken  by  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and,  generally,  his  Word  at  large ;  and  what  he 
teaches  is,  the  true  meaning  of  all  that  is  necessary  or  expedient 
for  us  to  know. 

The  third  mention  of  the  Paraclete  occurs  in  the  next  or  15th 
chapter  of  John,  ver.  26.  The  Lord  having  previously  spoken 
of  his  being  hated  by  the  Jews,  there  says,  "But  when  the 
Paraclete  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father, 
even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  he 
shall  testify  of  me."  Here  again  the  Paraclete  is  spoken  of  as  a 
teacher,  and  as  a  demonstrator  of  the  truth  respecting  the  nature 
and  person  of  Him  who  sends  him — the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  last  place  in  which  the  word  Paraclete  is  applied  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  the  last  in  which  it  occurs  at  all  except  the 
passage  in  John's  1st  Epistle,  in  which  Jesus  Christ  is  said  to  be 
our  Paraclete  with  the  Father,  is  in  the  next  chapter  of  John's 
gospel,  in  which  this  discourse  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  his 


320 


LECTURE  XIX. 


chosen  disciples  is  continued  and  concluded.  The  Divine  In- 
structor there  again  says  (ver.  7,  8),  "It  is  expedient  for  you 
that  I  go  away  :  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Paraclete  will  not  come 
unto  you  ;  but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto  you.  And  when 
he  is  come,  he  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment."  A  reprover  is  also  a  teacher,  who  reminds 
people  of  their  duty,  and  of  their  failures  in  performing  it. 

What,  be  it  asked  in  passing,  is  the  reason,  that,  as  the  Lord 
here  declares,  if  He  should  not  go  away,  the  Paraclete  would  not 
come  ?  It  is  because  his  going  away,  or,  as  he  elsewhere  states 
it,  his  going  to  the  Father,  means,  the  rising  of  his  Humanity  to 
full  union  with  the  Essential  Divinity ;  and  it  is  only  from  his 
Humanity  thus  united  perfectly  with  his  Divinity,  and  made 
itself  Divine,  that  the  Divine  Operative  Energy  called  the  Holy 
Spirit  can  proceed,  and  dispense  the  grace  adapted  to  enlighten 
the  minds,  amend  the  hearts,  and  thus  accomplish  the  regenera- 
tion and  salvation,  of  degenerate,  carnal-minded  men.  Well 
then  might  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ' say  to  his  first  chosen  disciples, 
and  through  them  to  us  all,  "  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go 
away  !"  Had  he  not  thus  gone  away — had  not  his  frail  human 
person  taken  from  the  mother  disappeared  from  the  world,  and 
the  Divine  Humanity  from  the  Father  been  brought  into  ulti- 
mates  in  its  place,  and  had  He  not  herein  risen  to  perfect  one- 
ness with  the  Father  himself — the  Essential  Divinity  (as  formerly 
shown  in  the  Lecture  on  that  subject), — the  Divine  enlightening, 
purifying,  elevating  and  saving  helps,  graces,  and  energies, 
called  those  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  could  never  have  reached  us,  and 
we  must  ever  have  remained  aliens  from  the  kingdom  of  God. 

From  these  four  passages  relating  to  the  sending  of  the  Para- 
clete— the  Spirit  of  Truth,  compared  with  each  other,  another 
important  observation  may  be  made  :  I  mean,  as  to  the  gradual 
manner  in  which  the  Divine  Speaker  opens  the  truth,  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  sent  by  Him  from  the  Father ; — in  other  words, 
that  it  proceeds  out  of  the  Divine  Humanity  from  the  Essential 
Divinity.  Let  us  again  pass  them  under  review,  to  note  this 
circumstance. 

In  the  first  passage  the  Lord  says  "I  will  pray  the  Father, 
and  he  shall  give  you  another  Paraclete."    Here  the  Lord  re- 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  321 

presents  the  Father  as  giving  the  Paraclete,  and  Himself  as  only 
contributing  to  the  blessing  by  asking  for  it.  (The  original  word 
here  rendered  "pray,"  does  not,  it  should  be  observed,  mean  to 
pray,  as  an  act  of  worship,  but  simply  to  ask  or  request.)  The 
reason  of  this  statement  is,  because  by  asking  is  not  here  meant 
literally  to  make  a  request,  as.  of  one  person  to  another,  hut  to 
opc?i  a  communication,  as  of  the  body  with  its  soul,  so  as  that  the 
latter  should  descend  by  influx  into  the  former.  This  the  Lord 
did  by  glorifying  his  Humanity,  so  as  that  it  became  One  Person 
with  the  Essential  Divinity.  When  this  was  completed,  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead,  as  Paul  expresses  it  (Col.  ii.  9),  then 
dwelling  bodily  in  the  Humanity,  the  aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
could  thence  be  given  or  go  forth,  fully  adapted  to  work  their 
saving  purposes. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  thought,  that  the  Lord's  here  saying  that 
he  would  pray  or  ask  the  Father  to  give  his  disciples  the  Para- 
clete, contradicts  his  statement  in  chapter  xvi.  26,  that  he  would 
not,  "at  that  day,"  pray  or  ask  the  Father  for  his  disciples, 
noticed  in  the  preceding  Lecture.  But  there  is  no  contradiction 
at  all.  When  he  says,  in  the  passage  before  us,  that  He  would 
ask  the  Father,  who  would  then  give  the  Holy  Ghost,  He  pro- 
mises that  He  would  open  the  communication  of  the  Divinity 
with  the  Humanity,  so  as  that  the  quickening  Energy  might 
thence  be  dispensed,  by  the  full  glorification  of  the  latter,  which 
was  not  yet  completely  effected  :  whereas,  when  he  states  that 
"at  that  day,"  He  says  not  that  He  would  "pray  or  ask  the 
Father,"  the  phrase,  "at  that  day,"  refers  to  the  state  when  the 
glorification  should  be  fully  accomplished,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  consequence  given  ;  by  virtue  of  which,  as  He  says,  the  Fa- 
ther himself  would  love  them  because  they  loved  Him — the 
Divine  Humanity, — and  believed  that  He  came  out  from  God — 
that  his  Divine  Humanity  proceeded  from  his  Essential  Divinity. 

But  if,  in  the  first  passage,  the  Lord  only  speaks  of  the  Fa- 
ther's giving  the  Paraclete  at  His  request, — in  the  second  pas- 
sage he  adverts  to  the  truth  respecting  the  procession  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  a  little  more  openly.  He  there  speaks  of  "the 
Paraclete,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will  send 
in  my  «ume."  In  the  literal  sense,  indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to  see 
21 


322 


LECTURE  XIX. 


what  is  meant  by  the  Father's  sending  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
Son's  name.  Commentators  mostly  say  that  it  means,  in  his 
place, — as  his  agent  or  representative  ;  and  Bishop  Pearce  boldly 
says,  it  is  so  expressed,  "because  Jesus  himself  was  to  send  him 
from  the  Father,"  as  is  afterwards  stated.  Yet  this  does  not 
explain  the  phrase,  "whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name." 
But  name,  in  the  Word  of  God,  always  signifies  nature,  or 
quality.  Jesus  Christ  was  literally  the  name  of  the  Lord's 
Divine  Humanity, — his  Human  Nature  ;  wherefore,  when  his 
"name"  is  mentioned,  though  all  his  attributes  are  included, 
his  Divine  Humanity  is  principally  signified.  To  send,  then, 
the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  to  cause  the 
Divine  fife-giving  influences  and  energies  signified  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  proceed  from  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  so  modified 
thereby  as  to  be  adapted  to  operate  on  the  human  nature  of  man 
in  his  natural  condition  and  state.  Thus,  for  the  Father  to  send 
the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  is,  in  reality,  as 
Dr.  Pearce  in  some  degree  perceived,  the  same  thing  as  for 
Jesus  Christ  to  send  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  Father. 

This,  in  the  third  passage  (ch.  xv.  26),  Jesus  plainly  declares 
that  He  will  do.  "When  the  Paraclete  is  come  [He  says], 
whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father.  If  the  Spirit  of 
truth  proceeds  from  the  Father  immediately,  how  is  it  that  the 
Son  sends  it  to  men  ?  Because,  as  proceeding  immediately  from 
the  Father,  nothing  is  capable  of  receiving  it  but  the  Lord's 
Divine  Humanity.  This  modifies  it  so  as  to  be  accommodated 
for  reception  by  man,  and  dispenses  it  to  human  subjects  to 
accomplish  its  light-and-life-giving  works. 

And  in  the  fourth  and  last  passage,  Jesus  repeats  the  same 
blessed  assurance,  but  without  mention  of  any  other  giver  and 
sender  of  the  Holy  Spirit  but  Himself:  "It  is  expedient  for  you 
that  I  go  away ;  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Paraclete  will  not 
come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto  you"  [ch. 
xvi.  7].  From  whom  is  it  possible  that  the  Lord  Jesus  can  send 
the  Paraclete,  but  from  Himself?  If  the  Father  is  a  Divine 
Being  or  Person  distinct  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  prior  in  order, 
as  commonly  imagined,  how  can  the  latter — the  Son — send  the 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  32-3 

Spirit  from  the  former — his  Father?  But  if  the  Father  is  the 
Essential  Divinity  and  the  Divine  Soul,  and  the  Son  is  the 
Divine  Humanity  and  Divine  Body ;  and  if,  as  the  apostle 
asjjares  us,  "in  Jesus  Christ  dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head bodily  :"  then,  the  union  being  complete — the  intercom- 
munion perfect, — it  obviously  is  the  true  and  only  order,  that 
the  Son  or  Divine  Humanity  should  send,  or  cause  to  proceed, 
the  Spirit  or  Divine  Operative  Energy,  from  the  Father — the 
All-originating  Divinity, — as  dwelling  in  all  possible  fulness  in 
Himself,  and  constituting,  with  Himself,  One  only  Divine  Per- 
son. 

Thus,  by  four  distinct  steps,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  these 
four  statements  respecting  the  sending  and  coming  of  the  Para- 
clete, enunciates  the  grand  truths  upon  the  subject :  that  the 
Paraclete  or  Spirit  of  truth  is  sent  by  Him  from  the  Father, — 
or  that  the  Divine  Operative  Energy  proceeds  out  of  the  Divine 
Humanity  from  the  Essential  Divinity :  and  that  this  is,  in 
reality,  a  sending  or  proceeding  from  Himself  alone,  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelling  bodily  in  Him. 

But,  in  connexion  with  the  passage  last  considered,  must  be 
taken  the  magnificent  declaration  which,  after  a  few  intervening 
verses  on  the  Paraclete's  reproving  the  world  of  sin,  and  righteous- 
ness, and  judgment,  follows  in  series  with  it,  and  which  throws 
a  most  brilliant  light  upon  the  whole  subject:  "Howbeit,  when 
he,  the  Spirit  of  truth  shall  come,  he  will  guide  you  into  all 
truth  :  for  he  shall  not  speak  of  himself ;  but  whatsoever  he  shall 
hear,  that  shall  he  speak :  and  he  will  show  you  things  to  come. 
He  shall  glorify  me  :  for  he  shall  take  of  mine,  and  shall  show 
it  unto  you.  All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine  :  there- 
fore said  I,  that  he  shall  take  of  mine,  and  show  it  unto  you." 

It  certainly  is  true,  that  the  Spirit  of  truth — the  Paraclete — 
is  here  spoken  of  as  if  he  were  a  distinctly  existing  person ;  yet, 
when  what  is  said  of  him  is  considered,  who  can  suppose,  that 
we  are  therefore  to  conclude,  that  he  is  so  spoken  of,  because  he 
really  is  a  distinct  person,  and  not,  rather,  as  the  Personification 
of  a  Principle  ?  Can  it  be  imagined,  that  if  he  were  really  a 
distinct  Divine  Person,  coequal  with  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
and  possessing  all  the  attributes  of  Divinity  as  essentially  and 


324 


LECTURE  XIX. 


actually  as  they,  that  it  could,  be  said  of  him,  "He  shall  not 
speak  of  himself,  but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he 
speak?"  If  a  distinctly  existing  Being  or  Person  of  any  kind, 
what  could  he  be,  to  answer  to  such  a  description  of  him,  but  a 
mere  automaton — a  passive  machine — a  thing  which  of  itself  is 
nothing,  and  which  is  solely  actuated  by  the  will  and  mind  of  ano- 
ther ?  When,  therefore,  Jesus  says  of  him,  "  He  shall  not  speak  of 
himself,  but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak,"  does 
He  not  in  effect  inform  us,  that,  of  himself,  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
nothing — that  he  has  no  separate  existence  whatever :  thus  that, 
in  reality,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  no  distinct  person,  but  is  the  Lord 
Himself,  considered  as  dwelling  in  his  people — as  communi- 
cating with,  operating  upon,  and  imparting  enlightening  and 
saving  aids  and  influences  to,  the  minds  of  men  ?  To  hear, 
spiritually  understood,  and  in  such  application,  is  to  receive  influx 
from  something  higher,  and  to  jpeak  is  to  impart  it  again  to 
something  lower  :  thus  it  is  descriptive  of  the  Lord  Himself,  con- 
sidered as  proceeding  as  it  were  out  of  Himself,  or  putting  forth 
from  Himself  an  operative  Sphere,  and  thereby  dwelling  in  the 
minds  of  men,  communicating  to  them  heavenly  life  and  light, 
and  operating  saving  graces  in  their  souls.  It  is  not  any  sepa- 
rate Spirit — any  distinct  Divine  Person,  that  accomplishes  this  ; 
but  is  the  Lord  Himself,  putting  forth  his  Love  and  Wisdom 
as  a  Proceeding  Sphere,  thereby  entering  by  influx  into  man, 
and  enabling  man  to  take  therefrom  all  that  his  state  admits, 
and  that  is  profitable  for  his  salvation. 

The  Lord  explains  this  more  plainly  when  He  adds,  still 
speaking  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  "  He  shall  glorify  me  :  for  he  shall 
take  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you."  Thus  what  the 
Spirit  of  God — the  Divine  Paraclete,  shows,  or  manifests,  or 
makes  apprehensible  to  man,  is  all  a  portion  of  the  inexhausti- 
ble riches  and  perfections  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  therefore 
all  that  is  thus  communicated  to  man,  tends  to  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  making  Him  known  to  us  as  the  Author 
of  all  our  mercies — of  all  the  graces  and  blessings  of  which  we 
ever  can  be  made  partakers, — of  all  the  means  of  salvation,  and 
of  our  eternal  felicity.  Whatever  the  Holy  Ghost  imparts  to  us, 
he  takes  and  brings  forth  out  of  the  fulness  of  all  excellences 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  325 

which  belong  to,  and  make  up  the  nature  of,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  whom,  according  to  the  Apostle's  words,  "are  hid  all 
the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge."  This  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  clearly  answers  to  that  meaning  of  the  word  Para- 
clete which  we  have  noticed,  as  denoting  an  interpreter  of  ano- 
ther person's  discourse  or  meaning.  This  is  one  of  the  functions 
of  a  human  Paraclete.  But  the  Divine  Paraclete,  not  being  a 
Person  separate  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  his  Proceeding 
and  operating  Energy,  is  Himself  as  accommodating  his  purely 
Divine  attributes  and  excellences  to  man's  capacity  of  apprehen- 
sion and  reception,  and  thus  enabling  man  to  comprehend,  ac- 
cording to  his  finite  ability,  those  Divine  qualities  and  perfec- 
tions, which,  as  they  exist  in  the  Lord  Himself,  are  infinite  and 
unsearchable.  Thus  the  Holy  Spirit  glorifies,  in  our  estimation, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  for  he  takes  of  the  things  that  are  His. 
and  shows  or  manifests  them  unto  us. 

But  how  is  it  that  in  Jesus  Christ  all  these  excellences — these 
purely  divine  perfections  exist?  He  himself  anticipates  this  in- 
quiry, and  explicitly  answers  it :  for  He  concludes  his  instruc- 
tions on  the  subject  by  saying,  "  All  things  that  the  Father  hath 
are  mine  :  therefore  said  I,  that  he  shall  take  of  mine,  and  show 
it  unto  you."  How  could  any  fuller  or  grander  declaration  pos- 
sibly be  made,  than  that  all  divine  attributes  without  any  excep- 
tion,— all  the  attributes  and  perfections  of  the  Supreme,  Essen- 
tial, and  Inmost  Divinity, — belong  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ '? 
All  things  whatever — (for  the  expression  is  universal) — "  All 
things  (whatever)  that  the  Father  hath,  are  mine."  Nor  is  this 
majestic  assumption  of  all  the  perfections  of  Deity,  as  belonging 
to  Himself,  the  only  saying  of  the  kind  made  by  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Tn  his  last  address  to  the  Father,  in  the  next  chapter 
(xvii.  10),  He  says,  "All  mine  are  thine,  and  thine  are  mine;" 
where  the  words  mine  and  thine  do  not  mean  persons,  or  men, 
only,  but  all  things  whatever,  all  the  terms  being,  in  the  original, 
in  the  neuter  gender.  The  meaning  is,  that  the  Father  and 
Son,  that  is,  the  Divinity  and  the  Humanity,  when  the  latter  was 
glorified  or  made  Divine,  being  perfectly  united,  so  as  to  consti- 
tute one  Person,  like  the  soul  and  the  body,  all  the  attributes  of 
the  one  belong  equally  to  the  other.    Thus  man's  soul  and  body. 


326 


LECTURE  XIX. 


consequently  everything  belonging  to  each  respectively,  are  no 
less,  by  virtue  of  their  union,  the  property  of  the  other.  Man's 
soul,  with  all  its  powers,  belongs  to  his  body,  for  it  is  from  the 
soul  that  the  body  derives  all  its  life  and  powers  of  action ;  and 
man's  body,  with  all  its  powers,  belongs  to  his  soul,  for  it  is- 
by  means  of  the  body  that  the  soul  produces  all  that  it  operates 
and  manifests  of  itself  in  the  world.  Thus,  according  to  the  words 
of  our  text,  all  things  that  the  Father  hath  belonging  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  it  being  of  the  things  belonging  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  the  Holy  Spirit  takes  to  manifest  to 
mankind  ;  it  follows  that  in  the  Divine  Humanity  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  by  his  Spirit  or  Proceeding  Life  and  Operation, 
we  have,  or  may  have,  communion  with  the  whole  Divinity — 
with  all  the  attributes  and  perfections  that  constitute  the  Divine 
Nature,  and  may  thence  receive  in  all  abundance  everything  that 
is  necessary  to  secure  our  salvation. 

In  this  sublime  statement  then,  of  our  Divine  Saviour,  we 
find  one  of  the  passages  of  the  Word  of  God,  which  conclusively 
substantiate  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Mediation,  the  Intercession, 
and  the  Advocacy,  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  that  doctrine  has  been 
explained  in  our  preceding  Lectures.  The  Divine  Humanity  of 
the  Lord  is  that  which  acts  as  a  Medium  between  the  unap- 
proachable and  inconceivable  Divine  Essence  and  man  in  his 
natural  state,  and  which,  therefore,  fulfils  all  the  functions  truly 
described  as  those  of  the  Mediation,  the  intercession,  and  the 
Advocateship,  or  Paracleteship,  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  that  Divine 
Humanity,  as  we  have  abundantly  seen,  and  as  the  Apostle  Paul 
assures  us,  dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily ;  which 
is  the  same  truth  as  Jesus  Christ  announces  to  us  in  the  text — 
that  all  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  His.  In  him,  then,  or 
in  his  Divine  Humanity,  we  have  communication  and  com- 
munion with  "all  that  is  called  God"  (again  to  use  apostolic 
language) — with  every  thing  that  can  be  conceived  of  as  Divine  : 
and  all  is  shown,  manifested,  and  conveyed  to  us  by  that  "other 
Paraclete,"  the  Holy  Spirit ;  whose  operation  and  agency,  thus 
whose  Intercession  and  Advocacy,  are  no  other  than  those  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  considered  as  dwelling  and  working  in  man 
by  the  proceeding  Sphere  and  Energy  of  his  Divine  Life, — his 


THE  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT.  227 

Love  and  Wisdom — adapted  to  the  state  and  necessities,  thus  to 
the  capacity  of  reception,  of  all  who  look  to  Him,  or  who  admit 
its  operation. 

This  then,  brethren,  is  what  we  have  to  do — what  the  Jews  are 
reprehended  because  they  would  not  do — to  come  unto  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  we  may  have  life.  The  life  which  he  dispenses 
is  spiritual  life — the  life  by  which  the  soul  shall  live  happy  in 
eternity.  This  can  only  be  imparted  to  those,  who  believe  in, 
and  love  Him,  and  who  keep  his  commandments.  This  He  per- 
petually insists  on  through  the  whole  series  of  this  discourse,  in 
which  He  promises  the  help  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  He  introduces 
the  whole  subject  with  saying  (ch.  xiv.  15),  "  If  ye  love  me,  keep 
my  commandments :"  and  with  this  He  connects  the  promise, 
"  And  I  will  request  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you  another 
Paraclete,  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever."  So,  just  after- 
wards, and  also  just  before  He  mentions  the  Paraclete  the 
second  time,  he  says,  "  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and 
keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me :  and  he  that  loveth  me, 
shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him,  and  will 
manifest  myself  unto  him. — If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my 
words ;  and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto 
him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him."  How  the  Father  also  will 
love  such  a  person,  and,  together  with  Jesus,  will  come  to  him, 
and  make  abode  with  him,  may  be  understood  from  what  we 
have  already  explained — the  Father  and  Jesus,  after  the  latter 
was  glorified,  being  indissolubly  One  Person,  and  all  things  of 
the  Father — of  the  Essential  Divinity,  belonging  equally  to  the 
Son — to  the  Divine  Humanity.  Let  us  then  diligently  strive  to 
keep  the  commandments  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  thus  to  love  Him 
in  a  practical  manner, — for  no  other  sort  of  love  for  Him  can 
He  acknowledge.  So  shall  we  know,  that  in  his  Divine  Human- 
ity as  the  blessed  Medium,  we  shall  have  communion  with 
the  Father  also.  The  Father  also  will  love  us.  And  the  whole 
will  be  testified  and  sealed  to  our  souls  by  the  Paraclete, — the 
Holy  Spirit — the  Operative  life  and  energy  of  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


LECTURE  XX, 


ADDITIONAL  SCRIPTURE-PROOFS  OF  THE  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE 
MEDIATION,  INTERCESSION  AND  ADVOCATESHIP  OF  JESUS 
CHRIST. 


John  xvi.  14,  15. 

"  He  shall  glorify  me;  for  he  shall  receive  of  mine  and  shall 
show  it  unto  you.  All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine  : 
therefore  said  I,  that  he  shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show 
it  unto  you." 

In  three  preceding  Lectures,  I  have  entered  rather  fully  into 
inquiries  respecting  the  doctrine  of  the  Mediation  and  Inter- 
cession of  Jesus  Christ,  with  a  view  of  showing  what  is  the 
genuine  truth  in  regard  to  that  important  doctrine,  and  how  it 
is  to  be  understood,  so  as  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  immovable 
truths  of  the  unity  of  God,  in  Person  as  well  as  in  Essence,  and 
of  the  unchangeable  benevolence  of  the  inmost  Divine  Nature. 
In  the  second  of  those  Lectures  we  examined  all  the  passages  of 
Scripture  in  which  the  words  Mediator  and  Intercessor  are  made 
use  of :  and  we  found  that  they  yield  no  support  to  the  popular 
erroneous  views  of  the  subject,  but  are  beautifully  in  harmony 
with,  and  conclusively  establish,  the  true.  As  to  be  our  Advo- 
cate is  the  same  thing  as  to  make  intercession  for  us,  and  this, 
also,  is  once  said  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  four  times,  by 
the  use  in  the  original  of  the  same  word,  (which,  anglicized,  is 
the  Paraclete),  is  employed  as  a  title  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (when 
the  translators  of  the  English  Bible  have  rendered  it  the  Com- 
forter) ;  we  have  also  examined  all  the  passages  in  which  that 
word  occurs,  both  in  reference  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  to 
his  Holy  Spirit.  We  have  ascertained  from  the  whole,  that 
Mediation,  Intercession,  and  Advocacy,  are  applied  to  Jesus 


MORE  PROOFS  OF  TrtUE  DOCTRINE  OF  MEDIATION,  &C.  329 

Christ,  not  to  signify  that  He,  as  one  Divine  Person,  intercedes, 
in  the  way  of  pleading  and  intreaty,  with  another  Divine  Per- 
son, but  because  his  Divine  Humanity  is  the  Grand  Medium  by 
which  man  has  access  to  God,  and  by  which  the  means  of  salva- 
tion, and  all  the  aids  of  which  man  stands  in  need  for  his  spiri- 
tual welfare,  are  communicated  from  God  to  man ;  and  that  the 
same  offices  of  intercession  and  advocacy,  by  the  same  original 
words,  are  also  ascribed  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  not  because  he,  as  a 
third  Divine  Person,  either  pleads  in  the  way  of  intreating  with 
God  for  man,  or,  as  such  a  distinct  person,  acts  towards  man 
either  as  an  instructor  or  as  a  consoler,  but  because  the  Holy 
Ghost,  or  Holy  Spirit,  is  a  name  to  signify  the  divine  Energy  and 
Operation  of  the  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ ;  so  that  it 
amounts,  in  effect,  to  the  same  thing,  whether  Jesus  Christ,  as 
the  name  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  be  said  to  act  as  our 
Intercessor  and  Advocate,  or  rather  as  our  Paraclete,  (that  being 
a  more  comprehensive  expression,)  or  whether  the  Holy  Spirit 
be  said  to  act  as  such.  The  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Medium  by  which  man  has  communication  with  the  Inmost 
Divinity,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Divine  Operative  Energy  by 
which  Jesus  Christ  dwells  in  man,  and  imparts  to  him  the  aids 
and  graces  by  which  we  are  enlightened,  reformed,  and  saved. 

In  addition  to  an  examination  of  the  whole  of  the  Scripture- 
testimony  on  these  points,  as  regards  the  texts  in  which  the 
words  Mediator,  Intercessor,  and  Paraclete,  occur,  I  had  stated 
it  to  be  my  wish  to  consider  some  of  the  texts  in  which  the  true 
doctrine  of  the  Mediation,  Intercession,  and  Paracleteship,  of 
Jesus  Christ,  is  plainly  conveyed,  although  the  words  are  not 
mentioned.  I  was  only  able  to  do  this  in  our  last,  without  ex- 
tending that  Lecture  to  a  most  unreasonable  length,  with  re- 
spect to  one  passage,  being  that  which  I  have  now,  to  connect 
this  Lecture  with  the  former,  read  as  a  text.  And  although,  in 
resuming  this  inquiry,  I  may  be  deemed  to  be  extending  the 
subject  of  the  Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ  to  a 
disproportionate  length,  I  trust  that  the  great  importance  of  it, 
as  a  key  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  and  whatever  else 
is  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 


330 


LECTURE  XX. 


will  plead  my  excuse,  if  in  the  present,  as  a  short  supplementary 
Lecture,  I  say  a  little  more  to  complete  my  design. 

In  the  passage  that  I  have  read  as  a  text,  Jesus  Christ  says, 
speaking  of  the  Paraclete  the  Spirit  of  truth,  "He  shall  glorify 
me,  for  he  shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you. 
All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine :  therefore  said  I,  he 
shall  receive  of  mine  and  show  it  unto  you." 

How  clearly  this  establishes  the  unity  as  to  Person  of  Jesus 
Christ  with  the  Father,  and  with  the  Spirit  also,  we  pointed  out 
in  our  last;  and  it  must  be  obvious  to  every  unprejudiced  mind 
upon  the  bare  perusal  of  the  words :  yet  a  few  additional  re- 
marks upon  it  may  not  be  unacceptable. 

"All  things  that  the  Father  hath,"  saith  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  "are  mine."  All  acknowledge  the  Father  to  be  the 
Inmost  Divinity,  whether  they  view  him  as  existing  separately, 
as  to  Person,  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  not.  All  things 
that  the  Father  hath,  are  all  things  that  he  possesses,  both  in 
regard  to  his  intrinsic  attributes  and  the  immensity  of  his  pro- 
ductions. All  worlds  are  his;  all  the  heavens  are  his;  the 
whole  universe,  both  mundane  and  celestial,  is  his ;  and  his  are 
all  the  inconceivable  powers,  perfections,  and  infinite  excellences, 
from  which  all  derive  existence,  and  subsistence  also, — from 
which  they  were  produced  at  first,  and  are  still  permanently 
upheld ;  all  which  may  be  referred  to  Infinite  Love,  Infinite 
Wisdom,  and  Infinite  Power.  Everything  that  I  have  now  as- 
serted is  disputed  by  none.  Christian,  Jew,  and  Heathen, — 
those  even  who  deny  revelation  as  well  as  those  who  accept  it, — 
all  human  beings  whatever  who  believe  in  a  God  at  all, — all 
equally  acknowledge,  that  to  the  Supreme  Divinity  belong,  as 
his  property,  to  dispose  of  at  his  will,  all  things  which  exist 
throughout  the  immensity  of  worlds,  both  visible  and  invisible  ; 
and,  by  necessary  consequence,  all  the  inconceivable  divine  at- 
tributes and  perfections  from  and  by  which  such  wonderful 
things  exist.  Yet,  saith  Jesus  Christ,  most  plainly  and  simply, 
"All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine.'!  Carry  your 
thoughts  to  all  the  immensity  of  the  divine  works  of  which  you 
have  any  knowledge  or  can  form  any  sort  of  idea :  rise,  if  you 


MORE  PROOFS  OF  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  MEDIATION,  &C  331 

can,  to  some  conception  of  the  amazing  divine  powers  and  per- 
fections which  first  produced  and  perpetually  sustain  them  all : 
and  then  listen  with  reverence  to  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ 
when  he  says,  All  these  things  are  mine :  for  you  acknowledge 
without  controversy  that  all  these  things  belong  to  the  Supreme 
Divinity,  whom  you  believe  to  be  called  the  Father  :  and  "All 
things  that  the  Father  hath,  are  mine."  How  can  this  be  pos- 
sible, if  the  Father  is  one  Divine  Person,  and  the  Son  another? 
But  how  easily  is  it  conceivable,  when  we  regard  the  Father  as 
the  Essential  Divinity,  and  the  Son  as  the  Divine  Humanity, 
and  consider  their  relation  to  each  other  to  be  like  that  of  man's 
body  and  soul ! 

By  its  union  with  the  soul,  the  body  possesses  all  the  powers 
of  the  soul :  by  its  union  with  the  body,  the  soul  possesses  all 
the  powers  of  the  body.  Without  the  body,  the  soul,  in  regard 
to  the  world,  would  be  nothing  at  all :  without  the  soul,  the 
body  would  be  absolutely  nothing  at  all :  by  means  of  the  body, 
the  soul  puts  forth  its  powers  of  action,  and  even  manifests  its 
thoughts  and  affections  :  and  from  the  soul,  the  body  derives  all 
the  capacity  of  producing  effects  on  persons  and  things,  and  of 
manifesting  thought  and  feeling,  by  which  a  living  body  is  dis- 
tinguished from  a  mass  of  unorganized  matter. 

Well,  then :  as  we  have  repeatedly  stated  before :  as  the  body  is 
the  natural  medium  by  which  the  soul  both  produces  effects,  and 
is  made  cognisant  of  what  exists  and  passes  in  the  world  ;  so  the 
Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Divine  Medium,  by  which 
the  Divine  Life-giving  Energies  go  forth  to  operate  for  the  salva- 
tion of  mankind  ;  and  by  which  the  wants  and  aspirations  of  frail 
and  suffering  man,  rise,  so  to  speak,  to  the  Divine  sensorium, 
and  draw  down  the  aids  of  divinely  communicated  grace,  with- 
out which  he  could  not  but  perish.  The  Divine  Humanity  is 
the  Medium  by  which  all  this  is  accomplished — not  a  passive 
Medium  but  an  infinitely  active  one,  as  having  all  things  that 
belong  to  the  Inmost  Divinity — all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead, 
dwelling  bodily  in  itself,  and  thence  dispensing  all,  according  to 
man's  necessities  and  capacities  of  reception,  to  the  human  sub- 
jects of  Divine  Benevolence.  And  this  the  Divine  Humanity 
accomplishes,  by  putting  forth  from  itself  a  sphere  of  Operative 


332 


LECTURE  XX. 


Energy  for  the  purpose ;  which  is,  as  we  have  seen,  what  is  de- 
nominated the  Paraclete  and  the  Spirit  of  truth,  or  the  Holy 
Spirit;  and  which,  being  solely  the  Operative  Energy  of  Jesus 
Christ,  by  which,  in  fact,  He  Himself  makes  an  abode  in  the 
souls  of  men,  is  therefore  described  as  being  nothing  whatever 
distinct  from  Him  who  puts  it  forth,  and  which,  though  per- 
sonified in  the  form  of  the  divine  speech,  is  discovered,  by  the 
plain  meaning  of  that  speech,  to  possess  no  attributes  of  a  dis- 
tinct person  whatever.  For  of  no  being  possessing  the  necessary 
attributes  of  distinct  personality  could  it  be  said,  "He  shall  not 
speak  of  himself,  but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak. 
He  shall  glorify  me ;  for  he  shall  take  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it 
unto  you."  Most  plainly,  then,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Divine 
Sphere  of  influence  and  agency  proceeding  from  Jesus  Christ, 
conveying  the  gifts  of  his  grace,  which  are  modifications  of  his 
Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom — thus  taking  of  the  things  that  are 
His, — and  dispensing,  manifesting,  or  showing  them  to  his  peo- 
ple. And  what  the  Spirit  thus  takes  and  shows  of  the  things  of 
Jesus  Christ,  are  also  the  things  of  the  Father, — of  the  Inmost 
Divinity,  dwelling  bodily  in  his  Humanity,  by  which  the  other- 
wise inconceivable  things  of  the  Infinite  God,  are  so  modified, 
as  to  be  made  conceivable  and  communicable  to  man. 

In  this  magnificent  declaration,  then,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
we  see  clearly  propounded,  and  firmly  substantiated,  the  doc- 
trine which  we  have  stated  as  that  of  the  True  Christian  Reli- 
gion on  the  Mediation, — which  is  the  same  thing  as  the  Inter- 
cession, as  this  is  the  same  thing  with  the  Advocacy  or  Para- 
cleteship, — of  Jesus  Christ ; — He  is  called  our  Mediator,  because 
his  Divine  Humanity  comes  between  the  Infinite,  inconceivable, 
Divine  Essence,  and  man  in  his  natural  state,  and  is  the  Me- 
dium by  and  from  which,  operating  by  his  Spirit  or  Divine 
proceeding  Energy,  He  conveys  the  graces  in  which  is  salvation 
to  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  notice  some  other  passages  in  this  gospel 
of  John, — always  acknowledged  to  be  at  once  the  most  sublime 
and  clear  in  the  discoveries  that  it  makes  respecting  the  Divine 
Person  and  Character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — which  also  in- 
volve the  same  great  truth. 


MORE  PROOFS  OF  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  MEDIATION,  &C.  333 

This  gospel,  then,  points  to  the  Mediatory  Office  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  very  first  sentences  which  it  enunciates. 
It  commences  with  saying,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The 
same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God.    All  things  were  made  by 
him ;  and  without  him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made." 
Here  the  Eternal  Logos,  called  the  Word  which  in  the  begin- 
ning was  with  God,  and  which  was  God,  is  presented  as  the  Di- 
vine Medium,  by  which  the  Infinite  Divine  Esse  first  proceeded 
forth  in  order  to  the  production  of  finite  existences.  Without 
the  putting  forth  of  such  a  Medium,  which  always  inherently 
existed  in  the  Divine  Essence,  as  Wisdom  or  Truth  in  most  per- 
fect union  with  Love  or  Good,  and  to  which  the  Lord  refers 
when,  addressing  the  Father  from  his  yet  not  perfectly  glorified 
Humanity,  He  says,  "  And  now,  O  Father,  glorify  me  with  thine 
own  self,  with  the  glory  which  I  had  with  thee  before  the  world 
was"  [John  xvii.  5]  ; — without,  I  say,  the  patting  forth  of  such 
a  Divine  Medium,  no  creation  could  have  been  produced,  nor, 
supposing  it  to  have  been  brought  into  existence,  could  any 
communication  have  been  maintained  between  the  work  and  its 
Author.    Yet  this  is  not  what  is  called  in  Scripture  the  Mediator, 
and  of  which  so  much  is  said  respecting  the  Lord's  gracious 
works  in  that  character :  to  become  such,  the  Word  was  to  be 
"made  flesh"  [John  i.  14] — was  to  assume  a  natural  humanity  by 
birth  of  a  human  mother,  and  so  to  put  on  a  form  adapted  toopen 
and  maintain  an  intercourse  with  the  minds  and  souls  of  men  in 
a  natural,  and  that  fallen,  condition  of  existence.    When  this, 
according  to  the  Lord's  own  prayer  just  quoted,  was  glorified — 
that  is,  made  Divine, — with  the  Father's  own  self, — so  as  to  be 
perfectly  united  with   the  Essential  Divinity, — so  that  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Word  Incarnate,  returned,  with  and  as  to  his  Hu- 
manity, into  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father,  as  the 
Eternal  Logos,  before  theivorld  was,  then  He  truly  became  what 
is  called  the  Mediator, — the  Medium  for  re-opening  the  com- 
munication between  the  Infinite  God  and  fallen  man,  and  for 
dispensing  to  the  degenerate  creature  the  saving  grace  of  his 
Creator. 

The  next  text  in  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  spoken  of, 


334 


LECTURE  XX. 


according  to  what  we  have  seen  is  the  true  doctrine  of  his  Me- 
diation and  Intercession,  as  the  Medium  of  making  known  to 
man  the  nature  and  perfections  of  the  incomprehensible  God 
also  occurs  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  gospel  of  John  (ver  18). 
The  evangelist  there  says,  "No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any- 
time ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  he  hath  declared  him."  Here  it  is  expressly  affirmed — 
what  reason  also  sees  to  be' unquestionably  true — that  no  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time, — that  God,  as  he  is  in  himself,  (for 
this  is  obviously  the  meaning),  is  both  naturally  and  spiritually, 
beyond  all  ken  of  finite  vision, — incapable  of  being  seen  by 
the  eye,  and  no  less  incapable  of  being  comprehended  by  what 
the  eye  corresponds  to,  the  human  understanding.  But  at  the 
same  time,  it  is  stated  respecting  this  invisible  and  inconceivable 
God,  that  the  only-begotton  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  he  hath  declared  him.  The  only  begotten  Son  is  mani- 
festly the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — the  Word  made  flesh — as  to  his 
Divine  Humanity ;  and  he  is  said  to  be  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father  to  express  the  intimate  and  perfect  union  between  the 
Divine  Humanity  and  the  Essential  Divinity.  Of  this  Son, 
then, — the  Divine  Humanity, — it  is  divinely  affirmed,  that  He 
hath  declared  the  unseen,  incomprehensible  God.  And  this 
does  not  mean  that  Jesus  Christ  has  declared,  or  made  the 
Father  known,  by  his  words,  doctrine,  or  teaching,  but  that  in 
Him  the  Father  is  presented  as  visible  and  comprehensible 
The  original  word  which  our  translators  have  rendered  declared, 
strictly  means,  to  make  manifest — to  bring  forth  or  present  to  view  : 
so  that  when  the  evangelist  says  that  the  Son  hath  mani- 
fested the  Father  or  brought  him  forth  to  view,  he  says  exactly 
the  same  thing  as  was  declared  by  Jesus  Himself,  on  more  than 
one  occasion,  that  he  that  hath  seen  Him  hath  seen  the 
Father  [John  xiv.  7,  9,  ch.  xii.  45].  What  then  is  this  but 
saying  very  plainly,  that  the  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Adorable  Medium,  in  and  by  which  both  the  nature  and 
the  Person  of  the  whole  Godhead  are  manifested  to  human 
apprehension,  and  in  and  by  which,  consequently,  man  may 
have  communion  with,  and  receive  blessing  from,  the  otherwise 
inaccessible  God,  and  be  enabled  to  view  Him  as  what  He  is, 


MORE  PROOFS  OF  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  MEDIATION,  &C.  33-5 


a  God  of  Grace  and  love?  This  then  is  another  text  which 
establishes  what  the  New  Church  offers  as  the  true  view  of  the 
Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  next  passage  which  we  will  notice  as  affirming  this  doctrine 
is  in  the  sixth  chapter.  In  his  discourse  there  with  the  cavilling 
Jews  about  the  bread  of  life,  after  having  said,  "  He  that  eateth 
my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  dwelleth  in  me  and  I  in  him," 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  adds  this  seemingly  paradoxical  statement 
(ver.  57):  "As  the  living  Father  hath  sent  me,  and  I  live  by 
the  Father  ;  so  he  that  eateth  me,  even  he  shall  live  by  me." 
When  He  says,  "As  the  living  Father  hath  sent  me,  and  I  live 
by  the  Father,"  He  teaches  that,  as  to  his  Divine  Humanity, 
He  proceedeth  forth  from  the  Essential  Divinity ;  and  that  the 
life  of  his  Humanity  was  the  essential  life  of  the  Father ;  ac- 
cording to  his  saying  in  another  place,  "As  the  Father  hath  life 
in  himself,  so  hath  he  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself" 
[ch.  v.  26].  He  claims  to  live  by  the  Father, — to  have  the 
Father  for  his  life, — and  thus  to  have,  by  gift,  that  is,  derivation, 
from  the  Father,  life  in  himself,  which  means  essential  life  ; 
being  what  no  created  being  can  possibly  receive  or  enjoy.  But 
the  essential  life  of  the  Father,  after  being  modified  by  the 
Divine  Humanity,  is  communicated  as  spiritual  life  to  those  who 
acknowledge,  and  receive  good  from,  Him  :  which  is  meant  when 
He  adds,  "So  he  that  eateth  me,  even  he  shall  live  by  me." 
To  eat  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — that  is,  his  flesh,  as  he  had  just 
before  said, — is,  as  explained  in  our  Lecture  on  Salvation  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  receive  and  appropriate,  so  as  to  in- 
corporate, in  a  manner,  into  one's  spiritual  frame,  the  Lord's 
divine  good,  as  dispensed  from  his  Divine  Humanity,  and  thus 
accommodated  to  man's  reception ;  and  to  live  by  Him,  is  to 
have  Him  for  our  life,  thus,  as  he  had  said  just  before,  to  have 
eternal  life — a  life  of  good,  truth,  and  consequent  happiness,  for 
evermore. 

Still  then,  we  see,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  presents  Himself, 
as  being  everything  to  those  who  look  to  Him, — the  Author,  to 
them,  of  eternal  life  and  all  saving  good, — because  He  receives  in 
his  Divine  Humanity  the  essential  life  of  the  Father  or  Inmost 
Divinity,  and  has,  for  his  life,  the  Infinite  Divine  Essence  Itself. 


336 


LECTURE  XX. 


The  whole  Godhead,  with  all  its  fulness  (which  is  a  Scripture 
phrase  for  the  whole  contents  of  anything — for  all  that  it  includes), 
dwelling  bodily  in  his  Divine  Humanity,  this  acts  as  a  Medium 
for  dispensing  to  man  everything  of  good  and  blessing  that  he 
can  possibly  enjoy. 

But  the  discourse  of  the  Lord  with  his  disciples  on  the  eve  of 
his  crucifixion,  with  the  address  to  his  Father  which  ibllows  it 
comprehending  together  four  chapters  ;  as  it  contains  his  most 
express  statements  about  the  Paraclete  or  Spirit  of  truth,  so 
does  it  also  contain  several  other  passages,  beside  the  one  which 
I  have  taken  as  a  text  and  have  considered  already,  in  which  He 
speaks  of  Himself,  or  of  his  Divine  Humanity,  as  being  the 
Medium  of  communication  between  man  and  his  God,  so  as 
to  substantiate  all  that  we  have  advanced  on  the  true  doctrine 
of  the  Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  He 
says  (ch.  xiv.  6),  "  I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life  : 
no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me."    Is  not  this  a 

plain  declaration,  that  only  in  Him — in  his  Divine  Humanity  

can  we  ever  find  the  Father — the  Essential  Divinity  ? — that  his 
Humanity  is  the  only  Medium  by  which  we  can  have  access  to 
and  communicate  with,  the  Infinite  Godhead  ? — the  only  Source, 
to  us,  of  truth,  and  of  life  ?  Well,  therefore,  may  He  add,  "  If 
ye  had  known  me,  ye  would  have  known  my  Father  also  :  and 
henceforth  ye  know  him,  and  have  seen  him."  How  can  know- 
ing Jesus  be,  to  know  the  Father  also; — how  can  seeing  Jesus 
be,  seeing  the  Father  likewise ; — unless  the  one  is  in  the  other, 
forming  one  Person  therewith,  as  the  soul  is  in  the  body,  con- 
stituting with  it  one  person  ? — all  demonstrating  that  the  Divine 
Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Blessed  Medium,  in  and  by 
which  we  may  know,  and  derive  blessing  from,  the  Essential 
Divinity.  All  is  reiterated  and  still  more  earnestly  enforced  in 
the  answer  which  the  Lord  made  to  Philip,  who,  not  under- 
standing the  plain  statement  he  had  just  heard,  said,  "  Lord, 
show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us."  Jesus  replied,  "  Have 
I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  thou  hast  not  known  me, 
Philip  ?  He  that  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father :  how 
sayest  thou  then,  Show  us  the  Father?"  What  can  this  mean, 
if  it  does  not  mean,  that  in  the  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus 


MORE  PROOFS  OF  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  MEDIATION,  &C  337 

Christ,  all  that  is  called  the  Father,  the  very  Divine  Essence,  is 
made  apprehensible  to  those  who  approach  God  therein — is  the 
Divine  Medium  in  and  by  which  all  the  Godhead  is  revealed  to 
human  apprehension  ? 

In  all  the  other  passages  which  bear  upon  this  subject,  Jesus, 
in  the  same  manner,  always  represents  himself — that  is,  his 
Divine  Humanity, — as  being  the  Medium  or  Agent  in  communi- 
cating with  man;  though  He  constantly  intimates,  that  it  is 
from  the  Father,  and  by  virtue  of  his  perfect  union  with  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Father's  dwelling  in  Him,  that  he  is  the 
Author  to  man  of  all  his  mercies.  He  continually  presents 
Himself  as  the  doer  ;  and  when  He  ascribes  what  is  done  to  the 
Father,  it  is  alwaj's  to  the  Father  in  his  name,  which  means,  the 
Father  in  his  Divine  Humanity.  Thus  He  says  (ch.  xiv.  13,  14), 
"  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name  that  will  I  do  ;  that  the 
Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son.  If  ye  shall  ask  any  thing 
in  my  name,  I  will  do  it."  The  Father  is  glorified  in  the  Son, 
when  man  is  enabled  to  form  some  not  altogether  inadequate 
ideas  of  the  divine  perfections,  and  sense  of  the  divine  mercies, 
as  manifested  to  him  by  the  Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ : 
and  this  is  accomplished  when  God  is  approached  in  the  Lord's 
Divine  Humanity. 

"  At  that  day  ye  shall  know,  that  I  am  in  my  Father,  and 
ye  in  me,  and  I  in  you"  [ver.  20].  Here  we  are  taught,  that 
the  Divine  Humanity  is  in  perfect  union  with  the  Essential 
Divinity;  but  that  it  is  with  the  Divine  Humanity  that  the 
members  of  his  church  have  union  or  conjunction ;  and  that  it  is 
from  the  Divine  Humanity,  as  abiding  in  them  by  his  Spirit, 
that  they  receive  all  their  blessings. 

"  When  the  Paraclete  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you 
from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  proceedeth 
from  the  Father,  he  shall  testify  of  me"  [ch.  xv.  26].  This 
passage  was  sufficiently  explained  in  our  last :  I  advert  to  it 
again,  to  point  out  how  plainly  it  affirms,  that  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity of  Jesus  Christ  is  that,  out  of  which  the  Spirit  or  Para- 
clete proceeds ;  and  that  what  this  communicates  is,  the  per- 
fections of  the  Essential  Divinity  as  modified,  and  adapted  to 
man's  capacity  of  reception,  and  thus  to  accomplish  his  salva- 
22 


338 


LECTURE  XX. 


tion,  by  the  Divine  Humanity  :  "  The  Paraclete  whom  J  will 
send  unto  you  from  the  Father  ;"  to  send  is,  in  divine  language, 
to  cause  to  proceed,  as  a  ray  of  light  from  its  source,  or  a  stream 
from  its  fountain. 

To  the  same  effect  are  several  expressions  in  the  subsequent 
address  to  the  Father,  which  for  brevity,  we  will  only  just  men- 
tion. "  Thou  hast  given  him  [thy  Son]  power  over  all  flesh, 
that  he  should  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast  given 
him  :"  [ch.  xvii.  2] — thus  the  Son, — the  Divine  Humanity,  dis- 
penses the  power  residing  in  it  from  the  Essential  Divinity,  and 
gives  eternal  life  to  all  that  are  saved.  The  Divine  Humanity  is 
the  Medium  that  communicates  all  to  them. 

"  J  have  manifested  thy  name  to  the  men  which  thou  gavest 
me  out  of  the  world"  [ver.  6].  The  Divine  Humanity  makes 
known  the  attributes  of  the  Essential  Divinity  to  all  who  become 
subjects  of  salvation. 

"J  have  given  unto  them,  the  words  which  thou  gavest  me" 
[ver.  8.].  The  Divine  Humanity  communicates  to  the  members 
of  the  church  the  truths  which  are  in  it  from  the  Essential 
Divinity.    So  [ver.  14],  "  I  have  given  them  thy  word." 

"  As  thou  hast  sent  me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  also 
sent  them  into  the  world"  [ver.  18].  The  Divine  Humanity 
proceeded  forth  from  the  Essential  Divinity  into  the  ultimates  of 
Human  Nature;  and  it  is  the  Divine  Humanity  as  the  indis- 
pensable Medium,  not  the  Essential  Divinity  immediately  from 
itself,  that  sends  forth  the  teachers  of  divine  truth,  together  with 
the  truths  to  be  taught,  for  the  recovery  of  the  world  to  God. 

"  The  glory  which  thou  gavest  me,  I  have  given  them,  that 
they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are"  [ver.  22].  Glory  spiritually 
signifies  divine  truth  in  spiritual  light.  This,  in  its  essence,  is 
in  the  Divine  Humanity  from  the  Essential  Divinity,  and  is 
thence  imparted,  in  a  modified  form  adapted  to  reception  by 
man,  to  the  church  in  the  world;  and,  when  vitally  received 
(strange  as  such  a  thing  may  seem  to  our  merely  natural  appre- 
hensions), it  unites  all  such  receivers  into  one  body,  so  that,  in 
heaven,  every  such  harmonious  society  actually  appears,  when 
viewed  at  a  distance,  as  composing  one  human  form. 

"  I'm  them,  and  thou  in  me;  that  they  may  be  made  perfect 


MORE  PROOFS  OF  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  MEDIATION,  &C.  339 


in  one"  [ver.  23].  A  most  plain  declaration,  that  it  is  Jesus 
Christ,  or  the  Divine  Humanity,  which  communicates  with,  and 
dwells  in,  the  living  members  of  the  church  ;  and  that  He  com- 
municates to  them  all  the  graces  and  blessings  which  they  enjoy, 
because  the  Essential  Divinity  is  in  Him,  and  thus  "all  things 
that  the  Father  hath  are  his" 

"  I  have  declared  unto  them  thy  name,  and  will  declare  it ; 
that  the  love  wherewith  thou  hast  loved  me  may  be  in  them,  and 
I  in  them"  [ver.  26].  The  Divine  Humanity  manifests  the 
perfections  and  attributes  of  the  Essential  Divinity  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  dispenses  to  them,  modified  so  as  to  be 
adequate  to  their  capacity  of  reception,  the  love  which  is  re- 
ceived by  the  Divine  Humanity  from  the  Essential  Divinity  in 
all  its  infinite  fervour,  and  thus  dwells  Himself,  with  his  truth 
as  well  as  love,  in  the  inmost  souls  of  his  people. 

In  the  other  gospels,  as  is  well  known,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
has  not  made  such  plain  and  numerous  discoveries  in  regard  to 
his  own  person  and  his  relation  to  the  Father,  as  we  find  in  the 
gospel  of  John ;  yet  there  is  a  revelation  in  Matthew  and  in 
Luke  which  differs  very  little,  either  in  clearness  or  in  purport, 
from  the  grand  one  with  which  I  commenced  this  examination 
— that  which  I  read  as  the  text.  In  Matthew  (ch.  xi.  27), 
Jesus  says,  "All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father: 
and  no  man  knoweth  the  Son,  but  the  Father :  neither  knoweth 
any  man  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the 
Son  will  reveal  him."  In  Luke  it  is  given  (ch.  x.  22),  "All 
things  are  delivered  to  me  of  my  Father :  and  no  man  knoweth 
who  the  Son  is,  but  the  Father ;  and  who  the  Father  is,  but  the 
Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal  him."  Here  the 
declaration,  "All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father," 
is  equivalent  in  sense,  though  not  quite  so  strongly  expressed, 
to  the  Lord's  statement  in  our  text,  "All  things  that  the  Father 
hath  are  mine."  When  He  says,  "No  man  knoweth  the  Son, 
— or,  who  the  Son  is, — but  the  Father,"  He  asserts  the  Divinity 
of  his  Humanity  ;  for  He  asserts  that  his  nature,  as  to  his  Hu- 
manity, to  which  belongs  the  title  of  the  Son,  is  incomprehen- 
sible to  any  lower  an  intelligence  than  that  of  the  Inmost 
Divinity,  which  cannot  be  true  of  any  human  nature  which  is 


340 


LECTURE  XX. 


not,  at  the  same  time,  Divine ;  and  it  is  only  as  to  his  Divine 
Human  Nature  that  Jesus  could  say,  either  that  all  things 
that  the  Father  hath  are  His,  or  that  all  things  are  delivered 
unto  Him  of  the  Father.  No  nature  lower  than  Divine  could 
possibly  be  receptive  of  all  things  from  the  Father,  any  more 
than  He  could  claim  all  things  belonging  to  the  Father  as 
his  own.  Neither  could  any  Nature  lower  than  Divine  know  or 
comprehend  the  Father  or  the  Essential  Divinity,  or  know  who 
the  Father  is, — comprehend  all  that  constitutes  the  Nature  of  the 
Infinite  God.  Jesus,  however,  declares,  that  He,  the  Son,  thus 
knows  the  Father :  and  He  declares  further,  that  He  reveals 
the  Father — the  Inmost  Divinity — to  finite  human  beings,  and 
enables  them  to  conceive  such  just  ideas  of  God,  and  to  have 
such  salutary  and  blissful  communion  with  him,  as  would  other- 
wise be  beyond  all  merely  human  capacity.  And  the  whole 
declaration,  equally  with  the  others  which  we  have  passed  under 
review,  demonstrates  the  true  nature  of  the  Mediation  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  shows,  that  his  Divine  Humanity  receives 
in  itself  all  that  belongs  to,  and  constitutes,  the  Essential  Di- 
vinity, or  has  dwelling  in  it  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily  ;  and  communicates  such  lights  and  graces,  aids  and  in- 
fluences, to  man,  as  reveal  to  him  all  of  God  that  a  finite  being, 
and  that  a  being  in  a  natural  state  of  existence,  can  possibly 
receive.  That  such  a  being  might  receive  it  at  all,  it  must  be 
presented  in  a  form  accommodated  to  his  state  and  nature,  and 
consequent  capacity  of  reception  ;  and  such  accommodation  can 
only  be  effected,  by  its  being  dispensed  from  the  Lord's  Divine 
Humanity. 

This  list  of  passages  might  be  considerably  increased  :  but  we 
will  conclude.  I  have  recited  enough  to  show,  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  is,  the  Divine  Humanity  in  most  perfect  union 
with  the  Essential  Divinity,  is  the  Being  or  Person  with  whom 
alone  man  has  to  deal  in  the  affairs  of  his  soul,  He  being  the 
Manifested  Form  of  the  whole  Godhead,  and  the  Divine  Medium 
by  which  all  salutary  gifts  and  saving  graces  are  communicated 
to  mankind,  and  in  and  by  which  alone  man  has  access  to  the 
Infinite  God  :  and  that  it  is  in  this  sense  that  He  is  called 
our  Mediator,  Intercessor,  and  Advocate  or  Paraclete. 


MORE  PROOFS  OF  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  MEDIATION,  &C.  341 

Let  us  then,  brethren,  ever  wait  on  Him  in  humble  adoration, 
seeking  to  derive  from  Him  the  just  apprehension  of  divine 
truth,  the  communication  of  saving  mercies  from  his  infinite  ful- 
ness, and  the  life  of  love  and  obedience  ;  never  forgetting,  that 
to  strive,  looking  to  Him  for  the  requisite  ability,  to  render  such 
obedience,  is  the  only  way  in  which  all  other  graces  can  take  root 
and  grow  in  our  hearts,  and  by  which  we  can  attain  to  life 
everlasting. 


» 


LECTURE  XXI. 


THE  ATONEMENT  :  WHAT  IS  ITS  REAL  NATURE  J  AND  HOW  IT 
IS  IN  PERFECT  HARMONY  WITH  THE  DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES  OF 
ABSOLUTE  UNITY  AND  IMMUTABLE  LOVE,  AND  WITH  THE 
CONCENTRATION  OF  THE  WHOLE  TRINITY  IN  THE  PERSON  OF 
JESUS  CHRIST. 


Exod.  xxxii.  30. 
"  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  Moses  said  unto  the 
people,  Ye  have  sinned  a  great  sin  :  and  now  I  will  go  up 
unto  the  Lord  ;  peradventure  I  shall  make  an  atonement  for  your 
sin." 

We  now  come,  my  friends  and  brethren,  in  the  course  of  Lec- 
tures which  I  have  been  for  some  time  engaged  in  delivering  on 
the  most  important  doctrines  of  what  we  believe  to  be  the  true 
Christian  Religion,  expressly  and  directly  to  a  subject  to  which 
several  of  our  late  Lectures  bore  reference,  and  which  is  gene- 
rally viewed  as  the  most  important  of  all  that  the  Christian 
Religion  includes  ;  and  that  is,  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement. 
In  all  places  of  worship  whose  ministers  claim  to  be  peculiarly 
evangelical,  nothing  is  so  continually  heard  of  from  the  pulpit  as 
the  grand  Atonement  for  the  sins  of  mankind  ;  and  though  a 
great  part  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  do  but 
sparingly  introduce  it,  they  regard  it,  nevertheless,  as  the  pri- 
mary article  of  the  Christian  faith.  From  the  most  unlettered 
mechanic  who  occupies  himself,  at  intervals,  with  preaching 
what  he  believes  to  be  the  gospel,  to  the  highest  dignitaries  of 
the  Established  Church,  the  Atonement,  if  not  preached  with 
equal  frequency,  is  regarded  as  the  most  essential  doctrine  of 
Christianity  ;  and  so  much  do  the  ruling  powers  of  the  state 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


343 


agree  in  this  opinion,  that  Dr.  Magee's  work  on  Atonement  and. 
Sacrifice,  the  most  laborious  publication  on  the  subject  that  has 
appeared  in  modern  times,  was  rewarded  by  the  elevation  of  its 
author  to  an  archiepiscopal  throne. 

Highly  important,  in  itself,  most  unquestionably,  the  subject  is  ; 
and  the  more  necessary,  consequently,  it  is,  that  the  conceptions 
formed  respecting  it  should  be  agreeable  to  Divine  Truth.  Here, 
then,  you  will  excuse  me  if  I  repeat  once  more,  what  I  have 
observed  in  the  introduction  to  several  of  our  former  Lectures, 
that  you  must  allow  me  to  assume  as  true  the  points  of  doctrine, 
respecting  the  Divine  Nature  and  Person  which  were  proved  at 
length  in  the  first  part  of  this  series  of  Discourses.  You  must 
permit  me  to  assume  that  the  Essential  Nature  of  Deity  is  In- 
finite Love  and  Wisdom,  and  that  no  attributes  can  have  place 
in  God  which  are  in  contradiction  to  these.  You  must  also 
allow  me  to  hold  as  incontrovertible,  the  Absolute  Unity  of 
the  Divine  Nature  and  Person — such  a  Unity,  indeed,  as  does 
not  exclude  a  Trinity  ;  but  that  must  be  such  a  Trinity  as  does 
not  divide  the  Godhead  into  three  separately  existing  sub- 
sistences. You  must  permit  me  still  to  maintain,  that  as  man, 
it  is  solemnly  declared  in  Scripture,  was  created  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God,  he  must  be  an  image  of  God  as  to  the 
Trinity  in  his  nature  as  well  as  in  being  a  form  capable  of  re- 
ceiving love  and  wisdom  by  derivation  from  their  Infinite  Foun- 
tain in  Him  :  thus  that,  as  man  consists'of  a  soul,  a  body,  and 
the  power  of  operating,  from  his  soul  and  body  in  union,  on 
persons  and  things  around  him  ;  so  the  Trinity  in  God  consists 
of  the  Divine  Essence,  answering  to  the  souljin  man,  called  in 
Scripture  the  Father,  the  Manifestation  of  that  Essence  in  a 
manner  to  be  apprehensible  to  finite  beings,  in  a  Divine  per- 
sonal Form,  answering  to  the  body  in  man,  called  in  Scripture 
the  Son  ;  and  the  operation  and  Proceeding  Influences  of  the 
Divine  Essence  and  the  Divine  Form  in  union,  answering  to  the 
operative  faculty  in  man,  called  in  Scripture  the  Holy  Spirit. 
You  must  allow  me,  here,  therefore,  to  adhere  to  my  text ; — I 
mean,  to  accept,  as  plain  and  clear  declarations  of  the  truth  as 
to  the  Unity  and  Person  of  the  Godhead,  such  passages  of 
Scripture  as  I  have  before  cited  to  that  purpose  ; — those,  I 


344 


LECTURE  XXI. 


mean  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  which  the  Divine  Speaker  says, 
"  I  am  Jehovah,  and  beside  me  there  is  no  Saviour  :"  "  Look 
unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  ye  ends  of  the  earth,  for  I  am 
God,  and  there  is  none  else  :"  and  the  declarations  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  New  :  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the 
Father  :  how  sayest  thou  then,  Show  us  the  Father  ?"  "  I  am 
the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  End,  the 
First  and  the  last ;  Who  is,  Who  was,  and  Who  is  to  come, 
the  Almighty."  You  must,  I  say,  grant  me  to  accept  these 
testimonies  in  their  obvious  and  literal  meaning ;  and  also, 
that  Jesus  Christ  plainly  showed  that  by  this  Holy  Spirit  is 
meant  the  Divine  Virtue  proceeding  from  Himself,  when  "  he 
breathed  on  his  disciples  and  said,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit." 
With  these  truths  on  the  minds  of  us  all,  we  will  proceed 
to  the  consideration  of  the  very  important  doctrine  of  the  Atone- 
ment. 

I  propose  then  to  show,  respecting  the  Atonement,  in  this  and 
another  Lecture,  what  is  its  real  nature,  and  how  it  is  in  harmony 
with  the  Divine  Attributes  of  perfect  Unity  and  Immutable  Love  ; 
and  with  the  concentration  of  the  whole  Trinity  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

For  it  is  with  this  doctrine  as  it  is  with  most  of  the  others 
which  we  have  been  considering  in  this  course  of  Lectures  ;  that 
in  our  views  respecting  it  we  in  a  manner  come  between  those 
who  maintain  the  doctrine  in  its  usual  acceptation,  and  those  who 
deny  it,  or  totally  do  away  with  its  reality.  That  an  Atonement 
was  wrought  for  man  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  most  un- 
doubtingly  believe.  The  objections  of  Deists,  and  also  of  Uni- 
tarians, against  the  doctrine  of  an  Atonement,  are,  we  contend, 
utterly  unfounded  :  such  a  doctrine  is  most  unquestionably  ad- 
vanced in  Scripture  ;  and  it  is  also,  as  there  set  forth,  perfectly 
agreeable  to  reason.  But  as  commonly  explained,  we  must  aver, 
and  I  entreat  all  who  are  present  not  to  be  offended  at  the 
averment,  it  is  not  contained  in  Scripture,  and  it  is  utterly  in- 
consistent with  Reason.  I  repeat,  that  I  have  no  wish  to  hurt  the 
feelings  of  even  the  weakest  Christian.  I  am  quite  certain  that 
multitudes  who  consider  their  salvation  to  depend  upon  the 
Atonement  as  commonly  understood,  are  persons  of  most  sincere 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


345 


and  ingenuous  minds,  and  are  actually  in  the  way  of  salvation. 
We  are  convinced,  as  much  as  they  can  be,  that  had  not  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  effected  an  atonement  for  us,  we  must  all  have 
perished  in  death  eternal.  While  then  we  most  cordially  believe 
the  thing,  you  will  bear  with  me  if  I  differ  a  little  from  the 
customary  mode  of  conceiving  respecting  it.  And  if  the  doctrine, 
as  commonly  understood,  does  actually  present  a  great  bar,  with 
many  rational  and  well-disposed  persons,  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  Christian  Religion  ;  if  not  a  few  become  Deists,  not  from  any 
antecedent  disinclination  to  Revelation  in  general,  as,  no  doubt, 
is  the  case  with  too  many,  but  from  inability  to  reconcile  such 
doctrines  as  those  of  the  Trinity,  as  commonly  insisted  on,  and 
of  the  Atonement,  as  generally  explained,  to  the  perceptions  of 
Reason  respecting  the  Divine  Nature  and  Attributes, — to  the 
first  of  all  religious  truths,  the  absolute  Unity  of  the  Godhead 
and  his  Infinite  Goodness  ; — surely  (as  I  have  before  said  with 
respect  to  kindred  doctrines)  every  well-wisher  to  the  cause  of 
true  Religion  must  look  with  favour,  or  at  least  must  listen  with 
candour,  to  a  view  of  the  subject,  which  maintains  inviolate  the 
doctrine  itself,  as  actually  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  and  at  the 
same  time  removes  the  objections  which  are  made  against  it,  and 
against  the  Scriptures  on  account  of  it,  by  so  large  a  class  of  the 
thinking  portion  of  Society. 

Like  the  doctrine  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  Salvation 
by  his  blood,  and  of  his  Mediation  and  Intercession,  all  of 
which,  in  fact,  form  part  of  the  doctrine  of  Atonement,  and 
have  each  been  considered  in  distinct  Lectures,  the  common 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  is  objected  to  by 
Deists  and  Unitarians  as  involving  the  notion  of  more  Divine 
Persons  or  Gods  than  One ;  as  supposing  the  Divine  Person 
who  receives  the  atonement  to  be  completely  separate  from  Him 
who  makes  it, — so  separate,  indeed,  as  to  be  of  an  actually  oppo- 
site nature ;  and  as  being  in  utter  contrariety  to  the  belief,  that 
the  first  Attribute  of  Deity  is  Infinite  Love  and  Goodness. 
Now,  really,  it  must  be  admitted,  that  all  this  is  included  in  the 
customary  explanations  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement.  The 
atonement  is  believed  to  consist  in  a  certain  satisfaction  for  the 
sins  of  men  made  to  the  offended  justice  of  God  the  Father ; 


346 


LECTURE  XXI. 


which  satisfaction  consisted  in  the  sufferings  submitted  to  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  on  the  cross,  whereby  the  wrath  of  the  Father 
was  appeased,  and  favor  was  obtained  for  sinful  men.  Now  do 
look,  my  friends,  as  men  possessing  the  faculty  of  rationality, 
— as  endowed  with  a  rational  as  well  as  an  immortal  soul, — at 
this  doctrine  for  a  few  minutes.  Can  the  God  who  makes  the 
satisfaction  be  the  same  God  as  he  who  receives  it?  Can  he 
even  be  a  God  of  the  same  nature  ?  If  Divine  justice  is  so 
inexorable  a  principle,  that  it  could  not  remit  the  punishment 
due  to  sin  upon  the  repentance  and  amendment  of  the  sinner 
without  exacting  the  full  penalty  incurred  by  it,  how  comes  it 
that  the  Son,  if  he  is  God  also,  and  thus  of  the  same  Divine 
Nature  as  the  Father,  did  not  feel  his  justice  demand  the  same 
satisfaction  ?  How  comes  it  that  the  justice  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  not  equally  offended,  and  did  not  equally  require  the  suffer- 
ings of  a  Divine  Person  to  appease  his  vengeance  ?  Evidently, 
if  these  are  three  Divine  Persons,  the  natures  of  the  second  and 
third  are  quite  different  from,  and  that  of  the  second  quite 
opposite  to,  that  of  the  first:  if  each  is  God,  then,  they  must  be 
separate  Gods  of  different  and  contradictory  natures  :  and  the 
least  truly  Godlike  nature  of  all,  as  consisting  in  a  justice  which 
cannot  forgive,  and  in  a  thirst  for  vindictive  satisfaction  which 
burns  insatiably  till  appeased  by  suffering,  is  that  which  is  as- 
cribed to  the  first  of  the  Divine  Persons,  the  Father. 

Such  are  the  objections  which  Deists  and  Unitarians  make  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  as  commonly  explained,  and  as 
represented  to  consist  in  giving  satisfaction  to  the  Divine  justice 
and  its  vindictive  requirements  :  and  really,  it  is  impossible  to 
deny,  that  the  doctrine,  so  presented,  does  include  all  the  incon- 
sistencies thus  stated.  We  will  therefore  devote  this  Lecture, 
chiefly,  to  a  consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Justice,  as 
it  truly  is,  and  as  it  is  commonly  represented,  both  popularly, 
by  preachers,  and  formally  in  Standards  of  doctrine. 

Let  me  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  there  cannot  be  a 
greater  error  than  to  impute  to  God  such  a  species  of  justice,  as 
cannot  be  satisfied  without  the  exaction  of  the  full  penalty  due 
to  transgression :  or  to  suppose  that  all  his  justice  can  permit, 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


-347 


is,  that  the  sinner  should  suffer  by  proxy  instead  of  being  punish- 
ed in  person. 

According  to  this  representation  of  divine  justice,  it  must  be 
a  very  different  thing  indeed  from  the  virtue  that  passes  under 
that  name  among  men.  Justice  among  men  is  understood  to 
consist  in  the  faithful  performance  of  the  duties  which  we  owe 
to  others, — not  in  the  rigid  exaction  of  what  they  owe  to  us. 
Never  was  a  readiness  to  forgive  either  debts  or  injuries  con- 
sidered as  a  flaw  in  the  character  of  a  good  man,  or  as  affording 
any  ground  for  reproaching  him  as  unjust.  This  view  of  human 
excellence,  so  universally  entertained  among  men,  is  founded 
on  the  precepts  of  the  holy  Word,  and  is  continually  urged  as 
the  rule  of  human  duty  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself.  What 
can  be  more  decisive  than  the  parable  of  the  debtors  ?  The 
kingdom  of  heaven,  the  Lord  declares,  is  like  unto  a  certain 
king  who  would  take  account  of  his  servants  ;  and  who,  when 
one  of  his  servants,  who  owed  him  the  immense  sum  of  ten 
thousand  talents,  had  nothing  to  pay,  and  besought  his  patience, 
freely  forgave  him  all.  The  same  servant,  however,  when  his 
patience  was  in  turn  intreated  by  a  fellow-servant  who  owed  him 
a  hundred  pence,  would  not  recede  from  his  demand,  and  threw 
his  debtor  into  prison  till  he  should  pay  him.  Now  if  what  is 
called  divine  justice  be,  as  one  would  expect,  the  prototype  of  hu- 
man justice,  this  merciless  creditor  deserved  commendation.  He 
practised  a  justice  of  exactly  the  same  character ;  for  which, 
however,  he  was  reprimanded  and  punished.  How  then  can 
teachers  of  divinity  ascribe  as  a  perfection  to  the  Lord  a  prin- 
ciple of  action,  which  Divine  Truth  itself,  and  the  common  per- 
ceptions of  all  mankind,  concur  to  reprobate  as  criminal  in 
man  ? 

But  although  divine  justice,  we  are  told  by  theologians,  cannot 
allow  the  offender  to  escape  without  exacting  full  satisfaction,  it 
matters  not,  to  it,  whether  such  satisfaction  be  made  by  the 
trangressor  himself  or  by  another  in  his  place  :  and  here  again 
it  is  at  variance  with  all  human  notions  of  justice.  When  a 
malefactor  is  condemned  to  the  gibbet,  what  sort  of  laws  would 
those  be  deemed,  which  would  sanction  the  execution  of  an 
innocent  person,  even  with  his  own  consent,  in  lieu  of  the 


348 


LECTURE  XXI. 


wicked  criminal?  I  remember,  when  a  celebrated  offender 
against  the  laws  of  this  country  was  sentenced  to  death  for 
extensive  forgeries,  while  forgery  was  a  capital  offence,  that  a 
person  who  was  tired  of  life  made  application  to  be  accepted  as 
his  substitute ;  but  though  he  urged  in  support  of  his  plea  the 
supposed  property  of  the  divine  justice  which  we  are  now  con- 
sidering, the  magistrate  refused  to  promote  the  object  of  his 
application.  It  istfrue  that,  in  this  country,  where  such  matters 
are  regulated  by  fixed  laws,  the  magistrate  had  no  option :  but 
I  doubt  whether  the  most  absolute  sovereign  on  earth,  if  at  the 
same  time  a  rational  man,  would  feel  himself  authorized,  in  de- 
ciding on  such  a  case,  to  take  what  is  alleged  to  be  the  plan  of 
divine  justice  as  his  model. 

In  short,  the  notions  which  theologians  have  invented  on  the 
subject  of  divine  justice,  and  the  mode  of  its  combination  with 
mercy,  are  so  extraordinary,  as  to  have  been  greatly  instrumental 
in  promoting  the  extension  of  infidelity.  When  Divine  Truth 
itself  in  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  condemned  to 
crucifixion  by  a  heathen  governor,  the  victim  declared  to  the 
oppressor,  "He  that  hath  delivered  me  unto  thee  hath  the 
greater  sin."  If  it  may  be  said  without  offence,  the  case  is 
similar  now.  Divine  Truth  is  not  spiritually  crucified — that  is, 
rejected — by  the  Deist,  till  it  is  delivered  into  his  hands  by  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  the  present  times, — till  its  professed 
expounders  have  so  vehemently  accused  it, — so  misrepresented 
its  true  character, — that,  mistaking  their  distortions  of  it  for  the 
thing  itself,  the  rational  mind  is  ready  to  reject  the  whole. 
Thus  men  have  ascribed  to  the  Divine  Being,  under  the  name  of 
justice,  a  quality  which,  when  practised  by  men,  is  invariably 
stigmatized  as  cruelty :  and  their  scheme  for  reconciling  this 
with  mercy  and  goodness  has  been,  to  transfer  its  exercise, 
without  abating  one  jot  of  its  rigour,  from  the  guilty  to  the 
innocent. 

The  fact  however  is,  and  must  be,  that  justice  in  the  Lord, 
like  love,  mercy,  faithfulness,  and  all  his  other  moral  attributes, 
differs  not  from  the  same  quality  in  man,  but  by  its  infinitely 
greater  purity.  Justice,  in  man,  consists,  as  observed  already, 
not  in  enforcing  to  the  utmost  every  demand  which  we  may 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


349 


have  against  others,  but  in  answering  faithfully  every  demand 
which  they  may  have  upon  us.  So,  justice,  in  the  Lord,  con- 
sists, not  in  being  "extreme  to  mark  what  is  done  amiss,"  and 
to  levy  punishment  for  it,  but  ia  a  readiness  to  do  every  thing 
which  Infinite  Goodness  can  do  for  the  benefit  of  his  creatures, 
and  to  supply  man  with  the  means  of  salvation.  "  As  I  live,  I 
have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  saith  the  Lord  : — 
why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel," — is  the  testimony  of  the 
Old  Testament  on  this  subject  [Ezek.  xxxiii.  11]  :  "  How  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  as  a  hen  gathereth 
her  chickens  under  her  wings  !  but  ye  would  not," — is  the  testi- 
mony of  the  New  [Mat.  xxiii.  37].  It  might  indeed  be  easily 
shown,  that  the  term  "justice,"  when  mentioned  in  Scripture, 
does  not  carry  with  it  the  idea  of  punishing  for  guilt.  The  origi- 
nal terms  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  equivalent  to  the 
English  word  "  righteousness,"  by  which  they  are  most  com- 
monly translated  in  the  English  Bible  :  and  they  never  convey 
any  idea  at  variance  with  that  of  beneficence  and  goodness. 
The  Apostle  John  took  his  idea  of  the  terms  "just"  and  "jus- 
tice" from  an  enlightened  understanding  of  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  transferred  it  into  the  New,  when  he  wrote, 
"  If  we  confess  our  sins,  God  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our 
sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness"  [1  John,  i.  9]. 
So  then,  according  to  the  idea  of  this  beloved  disciple,  divine 
justice  consists,  not  in  punishing  men  for  their  sins,  but  in  for- 
giving them  on  repentance.  How  awful  then  is  the  perversion, 
when  less  enlightened  teachers,  in  treating  of  the  justice  of  God, 
represent  it  as  implying  inexorable  vengeance  ! 

These  few  remarks  on  the  nature  of  the  divine  justice  (which 
might  easily  be  carried  much  further),  may  in  some  degree  tend 
to  correct  the  mistakes  too  generally  made  on  the  subject,  and 
to  show  how  weak  the  common  system  of  the  Atonement  is  in 
the  point  which  is  usually  regarded  as  its  stongest  bulwark. 
The  necessity  of  satisfying  the  divine  justice,  is  the  plea  con- 
stantly held  forth,  as  requiring  the  artificial  scheme  of  Atonement 
which  is  so  universally  substituted  for  the  plain  and  beautiful 
system  of  the  gospel.  When,  however,  divine  justice  is  seen  to 
be,  what  it  really  is,  only  one  of  the  aspects  of  the  divine 


360 


LECTURE  XXI. 


goodness  and  love,  it  is  perceived  at  once  how  little  help  can 
thence  be  drawn  for  the  support  of  such  erroneous  notions. 
Man,  doubtless,  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's  coming  into  the 
world,  and  almost  from  his  first  creation,  had  fallen  into  a  state 
which  rendered  atonement  necessary.  Atonement,  accordingly, 
was  mercifully  accomplished  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  as- 
sumed human  nature  expressly  for  that  purpose  ;  but  the  suffer- 
ings He  therein  underwent  were  not  penal  inflictions  endured  to 
appease  vindictive  justice. 

I  am  not  unaware,  that  while,  in  the  common  mode  of  pre- 
senting the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  such  views  of  the  divine 
justice  as  I  have  now  delineated  constitute  an  indispensable  in- 
gredient, great  solicitude  is  shown  to  reconcile  them  with  the 
undeniable  Scripture  testimony  to  the  Infinite  Love,  the  Inex- 
haustible Mercy,  of  the  Divine  Father  of  the  human  race.  This 
is  usually  done,  by  representing  the  justice  and  the  mercy  of 
God  as  antagonist-attributes,  and  the  Atonement  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  a  scheme  for  harmonizing  them  together,  and  allowing  the 
operation  of  both.  In  proof  of  this,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
satisfy  those  who  may  not  be  much  conversant  with  the  subject, 
that  I  have  been  guilty  of  no  exaggeration  in  depicting  as  I  have 
done  the  customary  views  of  theologians  on  the  nature  of  divine 
justice,  I  will  offer  a  statement  or  two  on  the  subject  from  works 
of  the  highest  authority  in  the  religious  world. 

The  authentic  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England  on  this  sub- 
ject is  delivered  in  her  Book  of  Homilies,  referred  to  in  the 
thirty-fifth  of  her  "  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  Religion."  In  that 
work,  in  the  first  "  Sermon  of  the  Salvation  of  Mankind,  by  only 
Christ  our  Saviour,  from  Sin  and  Death  everlasting,"  are  these 
statements: — "It  is  our  parts  and  duties  ever  to  remember  the 
great  mercy  of  God,  how  that  (all  the  world  being  wrapped  in 
sin  by  the  breaking  of  the  law)  God  sent  his  only  Son  our  Sa- 
viour Christ  into  the  world,  to  fulfil  the  law  for  us,  and  by  shed- 
ding of  his  most  precious  blood,  to  make  a  sacrifice  and  satisfac- 
tion, or  (as  it  may  be  called)  amends  to  his  Father  for  our  sins, 
to  assuage  his  wrath  and  indignation  conceived  against  us  for  the 
same," — "  And  although  this  justification  be  free  unto  us,  yet 
it  cometh  not  so  freely  to  us,  that  there  is  no  ransom  paid  there- 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


351 


fore  at  all.  But  here  may  man's  reason  be  astonished,  reasoning 
after  this  fashion  :  If  a  ransom  be  paid  for  our  redemption,  then 
is  it  not  given  us  freely.  For  a  prisoner  that  paid  his  ransom,  is 
not  let  go  freely ;  for  if  he  goeth  freely,  then  he  goeth  without 
ransom  :  for  what  is  it  else  to  go  freely,  than  to  be  set  at  liberty 
without  paying  of  ransom  ?  This  reason  is  satisfied  by  the  great 
wisdom  of  God  in  this  mystery  of  our  redemption  ;  who  hath  so 
tempered  his  justice  and  mercy  together,  that  he  would  neither 
by  his  justice  condemn  us  unto  the  everlasting  captivity  of  the 
devil,  and  his  prison  of  hell,  remediless  for  ever  without  mercy, 
nor  by  his  mercy  deliver  us  clearly,  without  justice  or  payment 
of  a  just  ransom  :  but  with  bis  endless  mercy  he  joined  his  most 
upright  and  equal  justice.  His  great  mercy  he  showed  unto  us 
in  delivering  us  from  our  former  captivity,  without  requiring  of 
any  ransom  to  be  paid,  or  amends  to  be  made,  upon  our  parts  ; 
which  thing  had  been  impossible  to  be  done.  And  whereas  it 
lay  not  in  us  to  do  that,  he  provided  a  ransom  for  us,  that  was 
the  most  precious  body  and  blood  of  his  own  most  dear  and  best 
beloved  Son  Jesus  Christ,  who,  besides  this  ransom,  fulfilled  the 
law  for  us  perfectly.  And  so  the  justice  of  God  and  his  mercy 
did  embrace  together,  and  fulfilled  the  mystery  of  our  redemp- 
tion."— "  The  Apostle  toucheth  specially  three  things,  which 
must  go  together  in  our  justification.  Upon  God's  part,  his 
great  mercy  and  grace  :  upon  Christ's  part,  justice,  that  is,  the 
satisfaction  of  God's  justice,  or  the  price  of  our  redemption,  by 
the  offering  of  his  body,  and  shedding  of  his  blood,  with  fulfilling 
of  the  law  perfectly  and  thoroughly  ;  and  upon  our  part,  true  and 
lively  faith  in  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  yet  is  not  ours, 
but  by  God's  working  in  us.  So  that  in  our  justification,  there 
is  not  only  God's  mercy  and  grace,  but  also  his  justice,  which 
the  Aposde  calleth  the  justice  of  God,  and  it  consistelh  in  pay- 
ing our  ransom,  and  fulfilling  of  the  law  :  and  so  the  grace  of 
God  doth  not  shut  out  the  justice  of  God,  in  our  justification,  but 
only  shutteth  out  the  justice  of  man,  that  is  to  say,  the  justice 
of  our  works,  as  to  be  merits  of  deserving  our  justification." — 
M  Our  justification  doth  come  freely  by  the  mere  mercy  of  God, 
and  of  so  great  and  free  mercy,  that  whereas  all  the  world  was 
not  able  of  themselves  to  pay  any  part  towards  their  ransom,  it 


352 


LECTURE  XXI. 


pleased  their  heavenly  Father  of  his  infinite  mercy,  without  any 
our  desert  or  deserving,  to  prepare  for  us  the  most  precious 
jewels  of  Christ's  body  and  blood,  whereby  our  ransom  might 
be  fully  paid,  the  law  fulfilled,  and  his  justice  fully  satisfied." 

Here,  we  see,  just  as  I  have  myself  stated  the  doctrine,  the 
justice  of  God  is  represented  to  be  such,  that,  notwithstanding 
all  that  is  said  of  the  greatness  of  his  mercy,  he  cannot  possibly 
pardon  a  sinner,  however  penitent  and  reformed,  till  the  full 
amount  of  punishment  has  been  undergone  (not  by  the  sinner 
himself,  because,  for  him,  the  punishment  would  be  eternal,  so 
that  there  could  be  no  restoration  of  him  to  favour  afterwards, 
but)  by  "  his  own  most  dear  and  best  beloved  Son."  Surely,  the 
idea  thus  presented  of  the  Father's  mercy,  is  not  much  more  like 
genuine  divine  mercy,  than  is  that  of  his  justice  like  genuine  di- 
vine justice,  for  where  is  the  me;rcy  of  remitting  the  punishment 
of  a  guilty  party  to  inflict  it  in  full  tale  upon  an  innocent  one, 
even  though  suffered  willingly  by  the  victim  ?  If  the  sufferings  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  Gethsemane  and  on  the  cross,  and  during 
the  whole  of  his  state  of  humiliation,  were  really,  as  is  unanimously 
affirmed  by  all  who  hold  the  public  doctrine,  equivalent  to  the 
sufferings  which  would  have  been  undergone  by  all  who  are 
saved  had  they  been  left  to  eternal  condemnation,  then  it  is 
evident  that  no  mercy  whatever  was  exercised  on  the  occasion, 
except  by  Him  who  voluntarily  became  the  substitute.  If  He 
made  full  "  amends  to  his  Father  for  our  sins,  to  assuage  his 
wrath  and  indignation  conceived  against  us  for  the  same,"  it  is 
obvious  that  no  mercy  was  shown  by  the  latter  at  all.  The  au- 
thors of  the  Homily  candidly  confess,  that  "  man's  reason  may 
be  astonished,"  and  conclude,  that  "if  a  ransom  be  paid  for  our 
redemption,  then  it  is  not  given  us  freely."  Doubtless,  "man's 
reason"  will,  and  must  say  this.  And  how  is  "this  reason  satis- 
fied?" Only  by  asserting — not  proving — "the  great  wisdom  of 
God  in  this  mystery  of  our  redemption."  Which  wisdom  is 
represented  as  consisting  in  finding  out  a  way  to  let  the  criminals 
go  free,  by  laying  their  punishment  upon  the  infinitely  more 
than  innocent  Son  of  God.  And  thus,  we  are  told,  "  with  his 
endless  mercy  he  joined  his  most  upright  and  equal  justice." 
Now,  my  Christian  friends,  be  not  offended  if  I  ask,  Is  your 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


353 


"reason  satisfied"  with  such  a  joining  of  justice  and  mercy  as 
this?  Can  it  truly  be  said,  that  this  is  "  most  upright  and  equal 
justice  ?"  How  can  such  epithets  be  applied  to  such  justice, 
unless  it  be  done  to  seem  to  supply  by  words  what  is  wanting  in 
fact,  and  under  the  names  of  uprightness  and  equality  to  cover 
the  reverse  of  both  ? 

The  absence  of  all  truly  divine  character  from  such  a  justice 
as  will  not  permit  the  Being  who  is  governed  by  it  to  pardon 
any  offence,  how  truly  soever  repented  of  and  forsaken,  without 
the  infliction  of  the  whole  punishment  denounced  against  it 
when  not  repented  of  and  forsaken,  has  been  sufficiently  evinced 
in  our  preceding  remarks  on  that  subject ;  together  with  the 
utter  failure  of  the  attempts  to  reconcile  it  with  true  divine  jus- 
tice, by  tranferring  its  exercise  from  the  real  delinquents  to  a 
Divine  Substitute,  who  generousby,  and  with  true  divine  love  and 
mercy,  consents  to  bear  the  penalty  in  their  stead.  And  we 
have  now  seen,  that  such  an  exercise  of  justice,  though  repre- 
sented as  resulting  from,  and  as  displaying  in  the  most  affecting 
manner,  the  mercy  of  the  God  whose  infinite  wisdom  is  said  to 
have  devised  it,  in  reality  involves  no  mercy  at  all,  except  in  him 
who  submits  to  it;  since  the  mercy  experienced  by  the  ransomed 
sinners  is  exactly  equipoised,  in  the  Being  who  only  consents  to 
show  it  to  them  on  such  a  condition,  by  the  severity  exercised  on 
the  substituted  Victim,  on  whose  head  all  the  thunderbolts  of 
divine  wrath,  as  the  penalties  of  offended  justice,  are  launched 
in  their  stead. 

But  letting  this  pass,  for  the  present :  admitting,  for  argu- 
ment's sake,  all  that  we  have  recited  from  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land Homily  on  such  a  mode  of  "joining  mercy  with  justice" 
to  be  as  satisfactory  to  "man's  astonished  reason"  as  it  is  the 
contrary,  and,  consequently,  that  the  common  doctrine  of  the 
Atonement  may  be  viewed,  by  those  who  hold  it,  as  being  in 
harmony  with  the  divine  attribute  of  Immutable  Love :  still  the 
difficulty  remains,  How  is  it  reconcilable  with  the  divine  attri- 
bute of  Absolute  Unity  ?  It  is  obvious  that,  in  the  whole  of  the 
extract  which  I  have  recited,  it  is  impossible  to  regard  the  God 
who  demands  satisfaction,  and  the  God  who  makes  satisfaction, 
as  being  the  same ;  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  conceive  how  they 


354 


LECTURE  XXI. 


that  framed  it,  and  all  who  either  compose  or  accept  similar 
statements,  can  think  so.  "God"  it  is  said,  "sent  his  only  Son 
our  Saviour  Christ  into  the  world,  to  fulfil  the  law  for  us,  and, 
by  shedding  his  most  precious  blood,  to  make  a  sacrifice  and 
satisfaction,  or  (as  it  may  be  called)  amends  to  his  Father  for 
our  sins,  to  assuage  his  wrath  and  indignation  conceived  against 
us  for  the  same."  How  are  these  statements  to  be  reconciled 
with  the  idea  of  an  absolute  unity,  either  of  Person  or  of  Essence, 
between  the  Sender  and  the  Sent, — the  Giver  of  sacrifice  and 
satisfaction,  and  the  receiver  of  the  same, — the  Assuager  of 
wrath  and  indignation,  and  the  Being  whose  wrath  and  indigna- 
tion are  assuaged  ?  As  remarked  on  a  former  occasion,  unity  of 
Person  is  not  affirmed,  but  denied,  by  the  maintainers  of  this 
doctrine  :  but  Unity  of  Essence  is  not  denied  but  strenously 
affirmed :  and  yet,  how  can  the  Essence,  the  Nature,  the  In- 
most Principle  of  Being,  of  Him  who  demands  satisfaction  of  his 
justice,  appeasement  of  his  wrath,  amends  to  his  dignity  as  a 
law-giver  insulted  by  our  sins,  be  the  same  as  that  of  Him, 
whose  justice  insists  on  no  such  satisfaction,  who  has  no  wrath 
that  requires  to  be  assuaged,  and  who  desires  no  other  amends 
for  the  insults  offered  to  his  dignity  by  our  sins,  than  that  we 
should  accept  from  Him  the  grace  which  will  prevent  our  per- 
severing in  them  ?  Most  palpable  is  the  truth,  that  if  the  Father 
and  the  Son  are  beings  of  the  same  Essence,  then,  if  the  Father 
is  governed  by  a  justice  that  demands  satisfaction,  feels  a  wrath 
that  requires  assuagement,  and  maintains  a  dignity  that  must 
have  amends  made  to  it  when  insulted  by  our  sins,  the  same 
justice,  wrath,  and  demand  for  amends,  must  equally  reign  in 
the  Son  ;  and  how  he  can  lay  his  nature,  in  these  respects,  aside, 
to  give  to  the  Father,  in  the  shape  of  horrible  sufferings,  that 
satisfaction,  assuagement,  and  amends,  which  must  equally  be 
required  by  the  same  nature  in  himself,  is  so  inconceivable,  that  ^ 
there  appears  no  danger  of  incurring  the  guilt  of  rash  judgment 
if  we  venture  to  pronounce  it  impossible.  And  if  so,  that  doc- 
trine of  Atonement  which  presents  it  in  such  a  form  as  this, 
cannot  be  the  true  one.  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  divine  at- 
tributes both  of  Absolute  Unity  and  of  Immutable  Love,  and 
requires  two  or  more  Divine  Persons,  or  rather  Beings,  of 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


3-55 


different  and  contradictory  natures,  to  support  it.  Any  doctrine 
so  circumstance'd  is  equally  opposed  to  Reason  and  to  Scripture, 
and  cannot  possibly  be  true. 

But  I  have  allowed  myself  to  be  carried  much  farther  than  I 
intended  by  the  quotation  I  have  made  from  the  Church^  of 
England  statement  of  its  doctrine  of  divine  justice  and  its  com- 
bination with  divine  mercy.  That  quotation  states  the  doctrine 
in  its  mildest  and  least  extreme  form ;  and  yet  in  a  way,  so 
plainly  betraying  its  inconsistencies,  that  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
template it  for  a  moment  without  feeling  those  inconsistencies 
crowding  on  the  thoughts,  and,  in  a  manner,  demanding  ex- 
posure. I  intended  to  have  recited  another  passage  or  two,  from 
other  of  the  Church  of  England  Homilies,  in  which  the  doctrine 
of  that  church  on  the  subject  of  divine  justice  and  divine  wrath, 
and  the  satisfying  of  their  demands  by  the  birth  into  the  world, 
the  sufferings  and  death,  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  more  strongly 
presented.  But  I  will  pass  to  an  authentic  statement  or  two  of 
the  doctrines  of  other  Protestant  Churches,  which  agree  in  their 
views  with  the  Church  of  England,  but  are  disposed  to  express 
them  more  pointedly.  All  regard  the  justice  and  the  mercy  of 
the  Lord  as  antagonist-attributes,  and  represent  the  Atonement 
as  a  scheme  for  harmonizing  them  together  :  and  all  support  the 
statements  which  I  have  made  respecting  the  nature  of  Divine 
Justice,  as  understood  by  orthodox  theologians.  And  though  I 
specifically  recite  the  sentiments  of  Protestant  Churches,  it  is  to 
be  understood  that,  on  this  subject,  they  have  not  receded  from, 
but  agree  with,  the  views  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 

The  chief  standards  of  doctrine  in  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
and  of  most  of  the  (so  called)  orthodox  Dissenters  of  England, 
are  the  documents  known  as  the  Assembly's  Confession  of  Faith, 
and  Catechisms.  These  always  connect  the  doctrine  of  the 
Atonement  with  that  of  Election  and  Predestination,  and  thus 
make  it  more  repugnant  than  is  commonly  done  in  the  Church 
of  England  statements  on  the  subject,  to  the  feelings  of  those 
kind-hearted  Christians  who  believe  that  God  is  the  common 
Father  of  all  his  human  children,  and  regards  them  all  with  the 
equal  feelings  of  Divine  parental  love.  In  the  "  Confession  of 
Faith"  [Ch.  viii.  $  5],  the  doctrine  of  Divine  Justice,  and  the 


356 


LECTURE  XXI. 


satisfaction  made  to  it  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  thus  stated: 
"  The  Lord  Jesus,  by  his  perfect  obedience  and  sacrifice  of  him- 
self, which  he,  through  the  eternal  Spirit,  once  offered  up  unto 
God,  hath  fully  satisfied  the  justice  of  his  Father,  and  purchased, 
not  only  reconciliation,  but  an  everlasting  inheritance  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  for  all  those  whom  the  Father  hath  given 
him."  To  the  Confession  and  Catechisms  is  appended  a  tract 
briefly  stating  the  doctrine  of  those  formularies,  under  the  title 
of"  The  Sum  of  Saving  Knowledge."  Herein  [Head  ii.]  the 
doctrine  of  the  satisfying  of  Divine  Justice  by  Jesus  Christ  is 
stated  thus  : — "  God,  for  the  glory  of  his  rich  grace,  hath  re- 
vealed in  his  word  a  way  to  save  sinners,  viz.,  by  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  by  virtue  of,  and  according  to 
the  tenor  of,  the  covenant  of  redemption,  made  and  agreed  upon 
between  God  the  Father  and  God  the  Son,  in  the  council  of  the 
Trinity,  before  the  world  began.  The  sum  of  the  covenant  of 
redemption  is  this  :  God  having  freely  chosen  unto  life  a  certain 
number  of  lost  mankind,  for  the  glory  of  his  rich  grace,  did  give 
them,  before  the  world  began,  unto  God  the  Son,  appointed 
Redeemer,  that,  upon  condition  he  would  humble  himself  so  far 
as  to  assume  the  human  nature,  of  a  soul  and  a  body,  unto  per- 
sonal union  with  his  divine  nature,  and  submit  himself  to  the 
law  as  surety  for  them,  and  satisfy  justice  for  them,  by  giving 
obedience  in  their  name,  even  unto  the  suffering  of  the  cursed 
death  of  the  cross,  he  should  ransom  and  redeem  them  all  from 
sin  and  death,  and  purchase  unto  them  righteousness  and  eternal 
life,  with  all  saving  graces  leading  thereunto,  to  be  effectually, 
by  means  of  his  own  appointment,  applied  in  due  time  to  every 
one  of  them.  This  condition  the  Son  of  God  (who  is  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord)  did  accept  before  the  world  began,  and  in  ful- 
ness of  time  came  into  the  world,  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
subjected  himself  to  the  law,  and  completely  paid  the  ransom  on 
the  cross  :  but  by  virtue  of  the  aforesaid  bargain,  made  before  the 
world  began,  he  is  in  all  ages,  since  the  fall  of  Adam,  still  upon 
the  work  of  applying  actually  the  purchased  benefits  unto  the 
elect :  and  that  he  doth  by  way  of  entertaining  a  covenant  of 
free  grace  and  reconciliation  with  them,  through  faith  in  himself ; 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


357 


by  which  covenant  he  makes  over,  to  every  believer,  a  right  and 
interest  to  himself  and  to  all  his  blessings." 

Now,  my  candid  brethren  !  if  1  had  given  this  statement  of 
the  prevailing  doctrines  on  the  subject  of  the  Redemption  and 
Atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  as  my  own  representation  of  them, 
would  not  some  of  you  have  thought  I  was  dealing  in  caricature  ? 
Would  not  most  of  you — all  who  had  not  heard  of  such  a  state- 
ment before, — have  concluded  that  no  body  of  professing  Chris- 
tians, much  less  whole  national  Churches,  could  have  framed  so 
gross  a  picture  of  the  Divine  Economy  in  regard  to  man's  re- 
demption and  the  means  of  his  salvation  ?  Yet  this  is  a  stand- 
ard of  doctrine  in  the  national  Church  of  Scotland,  and  of  nearly 
all  the  Seceders  from  that  Church,  who  differ  from  the  Estab- 
lishment only  on  matters  of  discipline,  not  on  points  of  faith. 
And  the  views  of  most  of  the  Dissenters  in  this  country  are  ge- 
nerally the  same,  as  presented  in  their  standards  of  doctrine. 
There  are,  indeed,  some  matters  in  the  quotation  now  read,  which 
I  have  not  treated  of,  nor  purpose  to  do  so,  in  this  series  of  Lec- 
tures ;  such  as  the  "  bargain"  before  the  world  began,  between 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  the  limitation  of  its  benefits  to  "  a 
certain  number  of  lost  mankind  :"  but  does  the  doctrine  of  the 
satisfaction  of  the  Father's  justice  by  the  sufferings  of  the  Son, 
his  "ransom"  of  the  elect  from  sin  and  death,  and  "purchase" 
for  them  of  righteousness  and  eternal  life,  derive  any  additional 
recommendation  from  being  found  in  such  company  ?  Does 
there  appear,  in  this  mode  of  stating  the  doctrine,  anything  of 
genuine  divine  mercy,  in  the  mercy  thus  described  of  the  Father, 
— anything  of  true  Divine  Justice,  in  the  justice  whose  demands 
-were  thus  satisfied  ?  Is  there,  in  short,  anything  which  tends  to 
discredit  the  view  which  I  first  gave  of  the  nature  of  Divine 
Justice  as  commonly  delineated,  and  of  its  incompatibility  with 
the  true  Divine  Justice  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  the  Lord 
Himself? 

In  the  "  Larger  Catechism,"  these  reasons  are  given,  in  an- 
swer to  the  question,  "  Wiry  was  it  requisite  that  the  Mediator 
should  be  God?"  "It  was  requisite  that  the  Mediator  should 
be  God,  that  he  might  sustain  and  keep  the  human  nature  from 
sinking  under  the  infinite  wrath  of  God,  and  the  power  of  death  ; 


358 


LECTURE  XXI. 


give  worth  and  efficacy  to  his  sufferings,  obedience  and  inter- 
cession ;  and  to  satisfy  God's  justice,  procure  his  favor,  pur- 
chase a  peculiar  people,  give  his  Spirit  to  them,  conquer  all 
their  enemies,  and  bring  them  to  everlasting  salvation."  As  to 
the  combination  of  this  "  infinite  wrath"  and  of  "  God's  justice" 
with  mercy,  I  find  nothing  more  explicit  than  this  :  "  Although 
Christ  by  his  obedience  and  death,  did  make  a  proper,  real,  and 
full  satisfaction  to  God's  justice  in  behalf  of  them  that  are  jus- 
tified ;  yet,  inasmuch  as  God  accepteth  the  satisfaction  from  a 
surety,  which  he  might  have  demanded  of  them,  and  did  provide 
this  surety,  his  only  Son,  imputing  his  righteousness  to  them 
and  requiring  nothing  of  them  for  their  justification  but  faith, 
which  also  is  his  gift,  their  justification  is  to  them  of  free  grace." 
Free  grace,  I  suppose  means  much  the  same  as  pure  mercy. 
Upon  every  theory,  doubtless,  the  salvation  of  sinners  must  be, 
in  some  way,  of  the  pure  mercy  of  God,  who  alone  has  provided 
the  means  of  its  attainment :  but  upon  the  "  scheme,"  here 
presented,  the  explainers  do  well  to  limit  the  free  grace  or  pure 
mercy  to  those  who  benefit  by  it.  "  Their  justification,"  they 
say,  "  is  to  them  of  free  grace."  They  say  this,  because  they 
well  know  that,  upon  their  system,  it  is  not  of  free  grace,  or  of 
pure  mercy,  at  all,  in  Him  who  confers  it ;  for  of  Him,  as  they 
seem  to  take  pleasure  in  saying,  it  is  "  purchased  " — the  full 
equivalent  is  paid  for  it  in  the  sufferings  endured  by  the  Son 
"  under  the  infinite  wrath  of  God."  There  is,  as  some  of  them 
state  in  so  many  words,  the  "  quid  pro  quo."  In  the  words  of 
Calvin  himself  (from  whom  all  the  views  above  stated  are  taken), 
as  they  are  found  in  his  celebrated  Institutes  of  the  Christian 
Religion :  "  This  is  our  absolution  ;  that  the  guilt,  which  held 
us  subject  to  punishment,  is  transferred  to  the  head  of  the  Son 
of  God  ;  and  this  compensation  is  especially  to  be  held  fast,  lest 
we  go  trembling  and  anxious  through  our  whole  life,  as  if  the 
just  revenge  of  God  were  impending  over  us,  which  the  Son 
of  God  has  transferred  to  himself."  [B.  ii.  ch.  xvi.  §  5.]  Here, 
we  see,  all  depends  upon  the  "compensation."  Our  guilt,  and 
"the  just  revenge  of  God  for  it"  are  11  transferred  to  the  head  of 
the  Son  of  God."  Here,  certainly  is  free  grace  or  mercy  as  re- 
gards us,  and  infinitely  so  as  regards  Him  who  undertakes  the 


THE  ATONEMENT. 


359 


transfer,  and  makes  the  compensation  ;  but  in  Him  who  requires 
them,  and  whose  justice  will  not  allow  him  to  lay  aside  his 
"  revenge"  until  he  has  effected  the  transfer  and  received  the 
compensation,  it  were  an  abuse  of  words  to  say,  that  there  is  any 
free  grace  or  pure  mercy  at  all.  The  harmonizing,  in  him,  of 
the  attributes  of  justice  and  mercy,  on  the  scheme  supposed, 
fairly  inspected,  is  as  manifestly  fictitious,  as  is  the  scheme  itself 
elaborately  artificial. 

It  was  not,  when  I  began,  my  intention  to  devote  so  much  of 
this  Lecture  to  an  investigation  of  the  notions  usually  advanced 
in  systems  of  theology  on  the  attribute  of  Divine  Justice,  and 
the  mode  of  its  combination,  in  the  popular  doctrine  of  the 
Atonement,  with  the  attribute  of  Divine  Mercy.  I  must  now 
reserve  the  consideration  of  the  Atonement  itself,  as  to  its  real 
nature,  for  another  Lecture.  We  have  now,  I  trust  it  will  be 
admitted,  seen  with  considerable  clearness,  that  the  customary 
doctrine  upon  it  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  Divine  Attributes  of 
perfect  Unity  and  Immutable  Love  ;  consequently,  that  it  can- 
not be  the  true  doctrine.  The  true  doctrine,  we  shall  see  as  we 
proceed,  is  (as,  to  be  true,  it  must  be)  perfectly  in  harmony  with 
those  principal  Divine  Attributes ;  and  equally  so,  with  the 
Concentration  of  the  whole  Trinity  in  the  Person  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  But  I  felt,  brethren,  as  I  proceeded  (and  I  trust 
that,  herein,  your  candor  will  coincide  with  me,  or  at  least  will 
excuse  me),  that  the  statements  of  the  views  of  the  Divine 
Justice,  and  of  the  Atonement  as  growing  out  of  them,  pre- 
sented in  the  extracts,  which  I  have  read  from  the  authentic 
documents  which  deliver  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  in  which  almost  all 
Protestant  Churches  throughout  the  world  concur, — as  does  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  also, — might  not  be  without  use,  as  evin- 
cing by  their  own  light, — or  rather  by  their  inherent  darkness, — 
how  great  a  necessity  exists  that  more  genuine  views  of  Divine 
Justice,  and  consequently  of  the  Atonement,  should  be  promul- 
gated and  received  among  mankind.  The  doctrine  of  Vindictive 
Justice,  as  a  ruling  Divine  Attribute,  lies,  we  see,  at  the  root  of 
all  the  errors  which  are  contained  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Atone- 
ment as  commonly  understood  ;  whereas,  in  reality,  vindictive 


3G0 


LECTURE  XXI. 


justice,  including  wrath  and  revenge,  is  not  a  Divine  Attribute 
at  all ;  as  was  shown  in  our  third  Lecture.  Divine  Justice 
is,  most  unquestionably,  diametrically  opposed  to  all  sin  and 
iniquity,  and  consequently,  to  all  who  cherish  and  persevere  in 
sin  and  iniquity.  Consequently,  such  as  do  so  cannot  but  reap 
the  fruits  in  everlasting  banishment  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 
But  what  Divine  Justice  is  opposed  to,  is  sin  and  iniquity  them- 
selves, and  not  the  sinners,  any  further  than  as  they  are  identified 
with  their  sin.  When,  therefore,  the  sinner  turns  from  his  sin, 
Divine  Justice  is  satisfied,  in  the  only  way  in  which  he  desires 
satisfaction  :  because  the  object  or  end  of  Divine  Justice  is  not 
punishment  and  vengeance,  but  reformation  and  salvation.  "  If 
we  confess  our  sins,  God  is  faithful  nxxdjust  to  forgive  us  our  sins, 
and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness."  Vindictive  Justice, 
as  it  is  called, — that  is,  the  principle  which  demands  the  inflic- 
tion of  so  much  punishment  for  so  much  crime — or  rather,  of  in- 
finite punishment  for  all  crimes,  even  the  smallest,  and  the  same 
whether  they  are  repented  of  and  forsaken  or  not,  is  no  part  of 
Essential  Justice,  and  cannot  but  be  most  abhorrent  to  the 
Divine  Nature.  And  the  Atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  consists,  as, 
we  shall  see  in  our  next  Lecture,  not  in  undergoing  punishment 
in  man's  stead, — nor  was  this  the  design  of  his  submitting  to 
such  direful  temptations  and  sufferings ;  but  in  uniting  Human 
Nature  in  Himself  with  his  Essential  Divinity,  and  so  providing 
the  means  of  reconciliation  and  restoration  for  mankind.  By 
availing  ourselves  of  those  means, — of  the  power  thus  imparted 
to  perform  true  repentance  and  to  become  regenerate, — Divine 
Justice,  such  as  it  truly  is,  will  be  satisfied  in  regard  to  us ;  our 
past  offences  will  be  blotted  out  without  any  punishment  for  them 
being  exacted ;  and  we  shall  reap  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  in 
life  everlasting. 


LECTURE  XXII. 


THE  ATONEMENT  CONSIDERED  AFFIRMATIVELY  :  WHAT  IS  ITS 
REAL  NATURE  ;  AND  HOW  IT  IS  IN  PERFECT  HARMONY  WITH 
THE  DIVINE  ATTRIBUTES  OF  ABSOLUTE  UNITY  AND  IMMU- 
TABLE LOVE,  AND  WITH  THE  CONCENTRATION  OF  THE  WHOLE 
TRINITY  IN  THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


Exod.  xxxii.  30. 

*'  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  Moses  said  unto  the 
people,  Ye  have  sinned  a  great  sin :  and  now  I  will  go  up  unto 
the  Lord :  peradventure  1  shall  make  an  atonement  for  your 
sin." 

In  our  last  Lecture,  we  entered  on  the  consideration  of  the  great 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  with  the  design  of  showing  what  is 
its  real  nature,  and  how  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  Divine  Attri- 
butes of  Absolute  Unity  and  Immutable  Love ;  and  with  the  con- 
centration of  the  whole  Trinity  in  the  Person  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  But  we  did  not  then  go  far,  in  the  affirmative  consider- 
ation of  the  doctrine,  beyond  a  brief  statement  of  its  true  nature. 
The  errors  with  which  it  has  been  commonly  associated  are  of 
such  magnitude,  arising  out  of  the  mistaken  conceptions  which 
have  prevailed  on  the  nature  of  Divine  Justice,  that  we  were  in- 
sensibly led  to  dwell  upon  that  subject,  so  necessary  to  be  ap- 
prehended with  some  degree  of  enlightened  intelligence,  till  it 
engrossed  almost  all  the  whole  Lecture.  But  I  trust  our  labour 
was  not  thrown  away.  What  was  adduced  from  the  received 
standards  of  doctrine  on  the  nature  of  Divine  Justice  and  the 
mode  of  its  combination  with  Divine  Mercy,  could  not  but  be 
seen  to  evince,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  as  generally 
understood,  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  primary  Divine  Attri- 


362 


LECTURE  XXII. 


butes  of  Infinite  Love  and  Indivisible  Unity  ;  and,  consequently  ^ 
that  a  view  of  the  doctrine  which  truly  is  in  harmony  with  those 
most  essential  Divine  Attributes,  is  indispensably  required,  and 
can  alone  be  the  true  one. 

Such  a  one  I  am  to  proceed  to  offer.  Indeed,  the  true  doc- 
trine results  of  itself,  when  the  mistaken  notions  respecting  the 
Divine  Justice  are  cleared  out  of  the  way,  and  the  Sacrifice  of 
Jesus  Christ,  Salvation  by  his  blood,  with  his  Mediation,  Inter- 
cession, and  Advocateship,  as  explained  in  our  Lectures  on  those 
subjects,  are  justly  understood.  It  will  then  be  easy  to  compre- 
hend what  is  the  real  nature  of  the  atonement  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  effected  on  behalf  of  mankind,  provided  we  are 
previously  aware  of  what  is  the  exact  grammatical  meaning  of 
the  word  "atonement :"  for,  as  is  the  case  in  many  other  of  the 
subjects  respecting  which  vulgar  errors  prevail,  a  great  deal  of 
the  misapprehension  which  exists  on  this  subject,  in  this  country, 
is  connected  with  the  change  of  meaning  which  has  gradually 
taken  place  in  the  word  itself.  This  change  has  been  such,  that 
its  original  signification  has  grown  entirely  obsolete ;  so  that, 
whenever  the  term  is  used  by  modern  speakers  and  writers,  they 
give  it  a  sense  which  it  did  not  bear,  when  it  was  introduced, 
between  two  and  three  hundred  years  ago,  into  the  present 
version  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

We  proceed  then  to  consider  the  real  nature  of  the  Atone- 
ment :  in  doing  which,  we  will,  in  the  first  place,  explain  the  true 
import  of  the  word:  in  the  second  place,  we  will  state  the  true 
doctrine,  and  confirm  it  by  examining  the  manner  in  which  Atone- 
ment is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  of  truth  :  and  finally,  I  will  offer 
some  remarks  with  the  intention  of  showing,  that  they  who 
have  been  acciistomed  to  the  common  mode  of  explaining  the  Atone- 
ment, need  not  fear  to  accept  our  view  of  its  nature  ;  since  we  admit 
all  that  is  usually  said  respecting  it  to  be  consistent  with  the  truth,  pro- 
vided we  understand  the  terms  employed  in  the  sense  which  they  always 
bear  as  used  in  the  Holy  Word. 

As  I  stated  in  the  introductory  remarks  in  our  last  Lecture, 
I  am  fully  aware  that,  on  this  subject  we  tread  upon  very  tender 
ground.  And,  evident  as,  to  us,  is  the  error  that  pervades  the 
theological  notions  respecting  Divine  Justice,  and  the  mode  of 


THE  ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  363 


its  combination  with  Divine  Mercy,  in  the  Atonement  as  com- 
monly understood,  as  demonstrated  in  our  last,  I  am  far  from 
expecting  that  every  hearer  will  be  prepared  to  relinquish  them 
at  once.  Not  a  few  would  much  rather  give  up  the  Absolute 
Unity  of  God,  than  part  with  the  received  notions  of  the  Atone- 
ment. Methinks  I  hear  some  still  saying,  "Is  not  the  Atone- 
ment the  expiatory  sacrifice  which  Jesus  offered  in  his  own 
person  to  the  Father,  which  appeased  his  wrath,  made  satisfac- 
tion for  the  sins  of  mankind,  and  again  obtained  for  them  the 
favour  of  their  offended  God  ?  And  what  becomes  of  all  this, 
if  you  take  the  angry,  vindictive  God  from  us,  and  leave  us  none 
but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  merciful  nature  never  required 
pacifying,  and  whose  grace  is  altogether  free,  spontaneous,  and 
unbought?  God,  we  know,  is  said  in  his  Word  to  be  One  ;  but 
nevertheless,  if  you  make  this  One  to  include  both  the  Atoner 
and  the  Atoned,  do  you  not  destroy  the  doctrine  of  the  Atone- 
ment altogether  ?"  Softly  !  I  would  answer,  my  mistaken 
friends  !  We  do  not  destroy  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement, 
but  restore  it  to  its  genuine  lustre.  What  we  destroy  are  only 
the  vain  traditions  and  perversions  of  men.  We  take  away,  if 
you  please,  your  angry,  vindictive  God,  because  no  such  God 
ever  did,  or  can  exist,  since  anger  and  revenge  are  affections 
that  cannot  possibly  have  any  place  in  the  Divine  Essence,  being 
of  an  essence  or  nature  diametrically  opposite.  We  take  away 
also  your  bought  favour,  your  purchased  grace,  because  we  can- 
not conceive  how  favour  that  is  purchased  can  be  favour, — how 
grace  that  is  paid  for  can  be  grace.  But  we  offer  you,  instead, 
what  the  Scriptures  offer,  a  God  of  love, — that  Jehovah  of  whom 
the  prophet  declares,  "in  his  love  and  in  his  pity  he  redeemed 
them"  [Isa.  lxiii.  9]  :  we  offer  you  favour  from  a  God  who  re- 
quires no  tortures  to  wring  it  from  Him, — a  grace  which,  as  the 
very  word  implies,  is  unpurchased, — free.  It  is  plain  that  you 
feel,  yourselves,  from  the  assumed  difference  of  their  attributes 
and  offices,  that,  as  the  Atonement  is  usually  represented,  the 
Atoner  cannot  be  the  same  God  as  the  Atoned.  Yet  can  you 
not  be  satisfied  with  one  shepherd  to  the  heavenly  fold  '?  Sup- 
pose yourselves,  for  a  moment,  literally  to  be  sheep  :  would  you 
say,  "We  are  not  satisfied  with  this  shepherd  :  we  want  a  more 


364  LECTURE  XXII. 

exalted  govenor  :  we  have  heard  that  this  shepherd  is  the  sub- 
ject of  a  personage  whom  they  call  the  king :  let,  us  go  and 
seek  this  king  in  person,  taking  care,  however,  to  mention  the 
name  of  our  shepherd  as  a  form  of  introduction?"  Alas!  the 
silly  sheep  who  should  take  a  journey  for  this  purpose,  if  they 
did  not  literally  fall  into  the  jaws  of  the  wolf,  would  assuredly 
incur  a  catastrophe  no  less  dreadful;  and  perhaps  they  who  de- 
sert their  spiritual  Shepherd  rush  into  a  danger  not  less  terrible. 
Sheep,  it  is  evident,  have  nothing  to  do  with  kings  at  a  distance. 
Their  shepherd  is  their  king,  and  the  only  superior  to  whom  they 
should  pay  obedience.  And  the  Shepherd  of  the  Christian  sheep- 
fold  is  a  King  indeed.  David  was  taken  from  the  flocks  to  be 
made  king  over  Israel  on  purpose  that  he  might  represent  Him. 
If  this  is  not  allowed  to  be  sufficient  evidence,  that  Jesus  "the 
Good  Shepherd"  is  the  true  king  of  Israel, — even  Jehovah 
Himself;  the  prophets  will  afford  such  as  cannot  be  disputed. 
The  Psalmist  says,  "Jehovah  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want" 
[Ps.  xxiii.  1].  Again  :  "Give  ear,  O  shepherd  of  Israel!  Thou 
that  leadest  Joseph  like  a  flock,  thou  that  dwellest  between  the 
cherubim,  shine  forth!"  [Ps.  lxxx.  1].  Isaiah  says,  "Behold, 
the  Lord  God  will  come  with  strong  hand,  and  His  arm  shall 
rule  for  Him  :  behold,  His  reward  is  with  Him,  and  His  work 
before  Him  :  He  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd"  [ch.  xl.  10]. 
And  Jeremiah  exclaims,  "Hear  the  word  of  Jehovah,  O  ye  na- 
tions, and  declare  it  in  the  isles  afar  off :  He  that  scattered 
Israel  will  gather  him,  and  keep  him,  as  a  shepherd  doth  his 
flock :  for  Jehovah  hath  redeemed  Jacob,  and  ransomed  him 
from  the  hand  of  him  that  was  stronger  than  he"  [ch.  xxxi.  10, 
11].  Here  then  Jehovah  is  declared  to  be  both  the  Redeemer 
and  the  Shepherd  of  His  church :  Jesus  is  allowed  to  be  the 
Redeemer ;  and  declares  Himself  to  be  the  shepherd  of  His 
church  [John  x.  11,  14], — declares  too,  to  exclude  all  subter- 
fuge, that  there  should  be  but  one  shepherd  [ver.  16]  :  Can  then 
any  mathematical  demonstration  come  out  more  fully,  than  that 
Jesus  is  one  Divine  Person  with  Jehovah  : — that  there  is  one 
only  Divine  Shepherd,  and  that  Jesus  is  He?  This  we  have 
abundantly  established  in  former  Lectures.  Is  it  not  then  cer- 
tain, that  all  notions  of  Atonement  which  require  more  Gods 


THE  ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  365 


than  one  for  their  support,  as  we  have  seen,  and  all  persons  feel, 
the  common  notion  does,  must  be  fundamentally  erroneous  ? 
Listen,  then,  I  entreat  you,  with  patience  and  candour,  while  we 
endeavour  to  offer  a  view  of  it  which  is  free  from  this  difficulty. 

I.  In  the  first  place  we  are  to  inquire  into  the  meaning  of  the 
word. 

It  is  a  fact  well  known  to  all  who  study  languages,  that,  in  all 
living  tongues,  words  are  continually  changing  their  meaning. 
A  word  is  first  introduced  into  a  language  to  express  some  spe- 
cific idea.  But  there  is  a  remarkable  tendency  in  the  human 
mind  (which  would  afford  matter  of  curious  speculation  to  the 
philosophical  enquirer)  to  divert  words  from  their  primary  sense 
to  a  secondary  one.  Poetry,  in  particular,  delights  in  the  use  of 
metaphorical  expressions  ;  that  is,  in  using  terms  which  do  not 
literally  describe  the  thing  to  which  they  are  applied,  but  which, 
seizing  upon  one  of  its  leading  qualities,  describes  the  thing  by 
the  application  of  a  term  which  literally  applies  to  something 
else,  but  the  name  of  which  is  given  to  the  thing  intended  by 
the  writer,  on  account  of  its  resembling  the  other  in  some  dis- 
tinguishing circumstance.  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  into 
the  philosophy  of  this  subject ;  otherwise  I  should  say,  that  this 
tendency  to  use  terms  which  excite  other  ideas  beside  the  pri- 
mary one  for  which  they  are  used,  arises  from  the  same  law  of 
nature,  as  that  by  which  we  perceive  more  charms  in  a  musical 
composition  including  an  harmonious  arrangement  of  different 
parts,  than  in  a  simple  unassisted  melody.  Thus  the  describing 
of  a  thing  by  a  term,  that  at  the  same  time,  excites  an  idea  of 
something  else,  which  resembles  it  either  more  nearly  or  re- 
motely, affords  the  pleasure  arising  from  the  tacit  comparison  of 
two  or  more  distinct  things;  and  this  is  a  pleasure  closely  anal- 
ogous to  that  afforded  in  music,  where  one  or  more  subordinate 
parts  are  heard  together  with  the  principal  air.  Thus,  if  we  say 
of  a  valiant  soldier  that  he  is  in  battle  a  lion,  the  image,  by  the 
subordinate  yet  harmonizing  idea  which  it  presents  in  aid  of  the 
principal  one,  conveys  the  meaning  much  more  forcibly  to  the 
mind,  and  at  the  same  time  impresses  it  in  a  far  more  pleasing 
manner,  than  if  we  were  simply  to  say  of  him,  He  is  a  brave 
man.    As  the  animal  called  a  lion  is  known  among  us  by  no 


366 


LECTURE  XXII. 


other  name,  and  is  still  existing,  we  incur  no  danger  of  con- 
founding the  meaning  of  the  word  when  we  thus  apply  it  to  the 
soldier.  But  suppose  the  animal  so  called  to  become  extinct,  as 
it  is  probable  he  will  in  a  few  centuries  more ;  and  supposing  it 
should  become  so  common  to  call  a  brave  soldier  a  lion  that  he 
should  seldom  be  called  by  any  other  name  :  the  inevitable  con- 
sequence would  be,  that  the  unlearned  part  of  mankind,  not 
knowing  that  there  had  ever  been  an  animal  called  a  lion,  would 
infallibly  consider  this  as  the  proper  name  of  a  valiant  soldier. 
The  same  would  be  the  consequence  if  lions  were  to  continue 
to  exist,  but  were  to  be  called  by  degrees  by  some  other  name, 
losing  that  of  lions  altogether. 

Now  what  we  are  supposing  might  be  the  case  at  some  future 
day  with  the  term  "lion,"  is  actually  the  case  with  a  consider- 
able number  of  words  at  present,  as  every  philologer  knows  full 
well.  To  take  one  example  out  of  several  that  might  be  offered. 
The  word  passion  has  changed  its  meaning  twice  since  it  was 
introduced  into  our  language  ;  and  its  two  secondary  meanings 
continue  in  use,  whilst  its  primitive  sense  is  almost  entirely  for- 
gotten. There  is  now,  I  believe,  but  one  phrase  in  the  language, 
in  which  the  word  is  retained  in  its  primitive  meaning ;  and 
here,  I  have  no  doubt,  many  simple  minds  often  wonder  what 
its  meaning  is.  It  is  derived  from  the  Latin  word  patior,  which 
signifies  to  suffer:  and  thence,  when  first  introduced  into  the 
English  language,  it  simply  meant  suffering.  Thus  we  still 
speak,  in  the  instance  in  which  alone  it  is  still  retained,  of  the 
Lord's  passion,  or  of  the  passion  of  the  cross,  meaning  the  suf- 
fering which  he  then  underwent.  But  we  never  use  the  word  in 
this  its  proper  meaning  in  any  other  instance.  We  never  say  of 
a  rogue  under  the  lash,  that  he  deserves  his  passion,  meaning, 
his  suffering;  or  of  a  cargo  of  negroes,  in  their  voyage  in  a 
slave  ship  from  Africa  to  America,  that  their  passions  are  ex- 
treme ;  if  we  were  to  use  such  a  phrase,  we  should  be  understood 
to  mean,  that  their  rage  and  indignation  are  great  at  the  treat- 
ment they  experience,  not  that  their  sufferings  are  so.  For  a 
secondary  sense  has  gradually  been  attached  to  the  word,  which 
has  superseded  the  original  one.  As  the  emotions  of  the  mind 
are  in  a  great  measure  involuntary,  so  that  a  man  seems  to 


THE  ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  367 


suffer,  rather  than  to  cause  them,  the  word  passions  has  by 
degrees  been  transferred  to  mean  these  emotions :  and  all  our 
affections  whether  good  or  bad,  whether  of  love  or  of  hatred,  are 
denominated  passions.  At  first,  this  use  of  the  term  was  meta- 
phorical. It  was  known  that  it  properly  signified  sufferings: 
and,  when  applied  to  the  mind,  it  was  understood  to  be  so  used 
on  account  of  the  involuntary  nature  of  most  of  the  mental 
emotions.  But,  by  degrees,  the  double  idea  attached  to  it  in 
this  application,  has  been  lost  sight  of,  and  the  sense  that  ori- 
ginally was  secondary  is  becoming  the  principal ;  so  that  now, 
whenever  we  speak  of  a  man's  passions,  we  never  mean  his  suf- 
ferings but  the  emotions  of  his  mind.  And,  by  degrees,  another 
idea  still  has  become  attached  to  the  word,  which  is  secondary 
to  this,  as  this  formerly  was  to  the  primitive.  As  one  of  the 
strongest  emotions  of  the  carnal  mind  is  anger,  we  have  begun 
to  regard  this  as  being  pre-eminently  a  passion  :  and  thus,  when 
we  now  use  the  word  in  the  singular  number,  and  say  of  a  man 
that  he  is  in  a  passion,  we  never  mean,  as  would  have  been 
meant  formerly,  that  he  is  in  a  fit  of  love,  of  despair,  of  joy,  or 
of  grief,  but  always  that  he  is  in  a  fit  of  anger.  And  this  mean- 
ing of  the  term  bids  fair  by  degrees  to  swallow  up  the  others  ; 
and  thus,  by  two  steps,  the  word  is  likely,  not  only  to  lose,  as  it 
has  already  done,  its  primitive  sense  of  suffering,  but  every  other 
sense  except  that  of  anger  ;  which  is  a  sense  very  remote,  indeed 
from  any  thing  which  those  who  first  used  it  ever  thought  of. 

Now  considerable  inconvenience  attends  this  perpetual  chang- 
ing in  the  use  and  meaning  of  words,  even  in  common  things. 
Our  oldest  authors,  as  Gower  and  Chaucer,  are,  owing  partly  to 
it  and  partly  to  the  disuse  of  many  words  altogether,  already 
become  unintelligible  ;  and  we  need  the  frequent  assistance  of 
commentators  to  enable  us  to  understand  Spenser,  and  even 
Shakspeare.  But  the  consequence  becomes  very  serious  indeed, 
when  it  involves  the  meaning  of  Scriptural  language  ;  and  if  we 
follow  the  current  of  time  and  change  without  noting  its  devia- 
tions, we  shall,  from  age  to  age,  alter  our  views  of  the  doctrines 
of  revelation,  because  a  change  has  imperceptibly  been  intro- 
duced in  the  meaning  of  the  words  in  which  those  doctrines  are 
conveyed.    Our  present  translation  of  the  Bible  was  made  in 


368 


LECTURE  XXII. 


the  days  of  Shakspeare :  and  many  very  important  terms  used 
in  it  have  since  altered  their  signification,  as  much  as  many  in 
his  comparatively  trivial  though  admirable  writings.  If  it  were 
convenient,  it  could  easily  be  shown,  that  some  of  the  errors 
which  at  this  day  prevail  respecting  the  tripersonality  of  the 
Deity,  man's  duty  to  God  and  his  fellow-creatures,  and  the  per- 
sonality of  the  Holy  Spirit,  have  partly  arisen  out  of  the  change 
that  has  taken  place  in  the  meaning  of  the  words  person,  charity, 
and  ghost:  So,  also,  some  of  the  chief  mistakes  which  prevail 
respecting  the  nature  of  the  benefits  procured  for  us  by  the  death 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  derive  their  chief  support,  in  this  coun- 
try, from  an  alteration  that  has  been  by  degrees  established  in 
the  meaning  of  the  word  Atonement. 

When,  at  this  day,  Christians  speak  of  the  Atonement,  they 
mean  by  it  a  satisfaction  made  by  Jesus  to  the  Father,  whereby 
his  wrath  was  appeased  ;  whereas,  at  the  time  the  present  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  was  made,  the  word  bore  no  such  meaning. 
This  is  evident  from  the  only  passage  in  the  New  Testament 
where  the  expression  occurs  [Rom.  v.  11],  where  the  Apostle 
says,  "But  we  also  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
by  whom  we  have  now  received  the  atonement.''''  The  same 
Greek  word  which  is  here  translated  atonement,  is  rendered,  in 
every  other  place  where  it  occurs,  reconciliation,  which  is  its  pro- 
per meaning,  and  which,  therefore,  it  is  plain,  the  translators 
understood  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  word  atonement,  when  they 
rendered  the  original  term  by  that  word.  It  is  the  same  Greek 
word  (that  is,  the  verb  answering  to  this  noun),  which  occurs  in 
the  passage  where  we  read  in  Paul,  "  God  was  in  Christ,  recon- 
ciling the  world  unto  Himself"  [2  Cor.  v.  18].  It  would  here 
then  have  been  equally  correct,  to  have  said,  agreeably  to  the 
meaning  which  the  word  atone  bore  at  that  time,  "  God  was  in 
Christ,  atoning  the  world  unto  himself."  But  how  would  this 
agree  with  the  sense  now  given  to  the  word  atone  ?  Not  at  all : 
a  plain  proof  that  the  word  is  now  quite  warped  from  its  original 
meaning.  Accordingly,  the  lexicographer  Johnson  informs  us, 
that  the  primitive  meaning  of  the  word  was,  "  to  agree,  to  ac- 
cord ;"  of  which  he  gives  a  proof  from  Shakspeare,  who  wrote  at 
the  time  when  the  present  authorized  translation  of  the  Bible 


THE  ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  369 


was  made,  and  who  introduces  one  of  his  characters  saying  re- 
specting another. 

"  He  and  Aufidius  can  no  more  atone 
Than  violentest  contrariety  ; — 
where  atone  evidently  means  agree.  Johnson  further  states,  that 
the  word  was  originally  written  as  two  words  joined  hy  a  hyphen, 
and  pronounced  as  the  two  words,  at  and  one,  are  pronounced 
when  alone,  so  that  the  sound  was  not  atone,  but  at-onc,  and,  in 
the  noun,  at-one-ment.  We  still  use  the  particle  at  in  combination 
with  other  words  in  the  same  manner;  as  at  home,  at  peace,  and 
the  like.  Of  course,  then,  to  be  at-one,  must  mean,  to  be  in  a 
state  of  oneness,  or  unity;  that  is,  in  agreement ;  just  as  to  be  at 
peace  is  to  be  in  a  state  of  peace. 

Of  this  form  of  the  word  we  have  several  examples  given  by 
the  translators  of  the  Bible  themselves.  Thus,  in  the  first 
apocryphal  book  of  the  Maccabees,  it  is  said  of  some  who  were 
besieged  in  the  tower  at  Jerusalem  [ch.  xiii.  50],  "  Then  cried 
they  to  Simon,  beseeching  them  to  be  at  one  with  them." 
Again,  in  the  second  book  of  the  Maccabees  [ch.  i.  5],  a  wish 
is  expressed  respecting  certain  parties  addressed,  that  God 
"  would  hear  your  prayers,  and  be  at  one  with  you."  And 
again,  certain  pious  persons  say,  in  the  same  book  [ch.  vii.  33], 
"  Though  the  living  Lord  be  angry  with  us  a  little  while  for  our 
chastening  and  correction,  yet  shall  he  be  at  one  again  with  his 
servants."  In  the  New  Testament,  also,  in  the  book  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  Stephen,  in  his  harangue  before  the  chief  priest 
and  council  of  the  Jews,  when  relating  some  circumstances  in 
%h.e  history  of  Moses,  says,  as  the  translators  have  properly  ren- 
dered the  original  according  to  the  idiom  of  the  English  lan- 
guage as  then  in  use  [ch.  vii.  2G],  "  The  next  day  he  showed 
himself  unto  them  as  they  strove,  and  would  have  set  them  at  one 
again." 

It  is,  likewise,  only  in  this  form  and  sense  that  the  word  is 
found  in  the  doctrinal  standards  of  the  Church  of  England. 
The  following  examples,  from  the  Bonk  of  Homilies,  are  illus- 
trative of  the  subject  in  more  ways  than  one  :  " —  How  should 
we  have  in  memory  this  excellent  act  and  benefit  of  Christ's 
death  !  whereby  he  hath  purchased  for  us  the  undoubted  pardon 
24 


370 


LECTURE  XXII. 


and  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  whereby  he  made  at  one  the  Father 
of  heaven  with  us, — "  "  Christ  did  put  himself  between  God's 
deserved  wrath  and  our  sin ;  and  rent  that  obligation  whereby 
we  were  in  danger  to  God,  and  paid  our  debt.  Our  debt  was  a 
great  deal  too  much  for  us  to  have  paid  :  and  without  payment, 
God  the  Father  could  never  be  at  one  with  us  [Horn,  for  Good 
Friday']. 

As  Atone  was  originally  written  and  pronounced  at  one,  and 
meant  to  agree,  or  being  in  a  state  of  agreement,  so  atonement  was 
written  and  pronounced  at-one-ment,  and  meant  simply  agree- 
ment, and  nothing  more. 

II.  We  proceed  then,  in  the  second  place,  to  state  the  true 
Doctrine,  and  confirm  it  by  examining  the  manner  in  which  Atone- 
ment is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  of  truth. 

The  true  view  of  the  doctrine  of  Atonement,  that  is,  Agree- 
ment or  Reconciliation,  is  this ;  That  by  the  assumption  of  hu- 
man nature  by  Jehovah  in  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  opposition  or  contrariety  which  previously  existed  between 
man  and  God  was  removed,  first  in  his  own  assumed  Humanity, 
and  then,  by  the  influences  of  his  Spirit  proceeding  from  his 
Humanity  when  fully  glorified  and  united  to  the  Essential  Di- 
vinity, in  those  who  should  acknowledge  him  and  accept  his 
mercies.  The  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  consisted,  in  the 
total  sanctification  and  dedication  of  his  human  nature,  till 
it  was  entirely  assimilated  to  his  Divine  Nature,  rendered 
itself  Divine,  and  made  the  proper  organ  for  the  indwelling 
of  the  whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  and  for  the  exercise 
of  all  the  energies  of  the  Divine  Omnipotence  ;  just  as  man's* 
body  is  the  proper  organ  for  the  indwelling  of  the  soul,  and 
for  the  exercise  of  all  the  powers  belonging  to  the  compound 
man.  By  our  salvation,  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  meant, 
(we  have  seen,)  in  a  natural  sense,  by  his  death  :  without 
which  we  could  not  have  been  saved,  because  without  it  his 
Humanity  could  not  have  been  glorified ;  it  being  absolutely 
necessary  that  the  merely  human  life  should  be  extinguished 
before  the  purely  Divine  life  could  descend  and  take  its  place. 
And  the  Mediation,  Intercession,  and  Advocateship  of  Jesus 
Christ,  include,  (we  have  seen,)  both  the  access  which  is  afforded 


THE  ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  371 


for  man  to  God  by  the  Medium  of  the  Glorified  Humanity  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  communication  from  God  to  man,  by  the 
same  blessed  Medium,  of  all  the  gifts  necessary  to  his  salvation. 
Thus  most  true  it  is,  that  by  the  assumption  and  glorification  of 
his  Humanity,  He  made  atonement  for  us, — that  is,  effected 
agreement  between-  man  and  God,  by  clothing  Himself  with  a 
Divine  Manhood  and  uniting  this  with  the  Essential  Godhead, 
and  by  enabling  created  man  to  desist  from  that  which  was  the 
cause  of  his  separation.  The  prophet  says,  "It  is  your  iniquities 
which  have  separated  between  you  and  your  God  :" — the  re- 
moval then  of  these  iniquities,  and  the  reception  by  man  of  hea- 
venly graces  from  God  to  adorn  his  mind  in  their  place,  is 
the  making  of  an  atonement,  an  at-one-mcnt  or  agreement.  This 
would  ever  have  been  impossible,  had  not  the  Lord  presented 
the  graces  of  his  Spirit  in  a  form,  and  with  a  power,  capable  of 
reaching  man  in  the  state  of  separation  in  which  he  stood  ;  and 
this  could  only  be,  by  .the  Holy  Spirit,  or  divine  influence,  pro- 
ceeding from  his  Divine  or  Glorified  Human  Person.  Before, 
then,  such  a  Holy  Spirit  could  be  given,  or  such  a  divine  influ- 
ence be  imparted,  it  was  necessary  that  the  Humanity  should  be 
assumed  by  the  Lord,  and  united  to  the  Divinity.  That  the 
consequence  of  this,  to  those  who  look  to  the  Lord  in  this  his 
form  of  accommodation  to  their  state,  would  be,  the  communica- 
tion of  every  grace  necessary  to  their  reception  of  spiritual  fife, 
is  declared  by  the  Lord  when,  in  a  sublime  passage  quoted  in 
a  former  Lecture,  He  "stood  and  cried"  (as  it  is  expressed,  to 
denote  the  Tirdour  of  his  Divine  Love,  and  the  earnestness  of  his 
desire  for  man's  salvation),  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come 
unto  me,  and  drink  :" — to  thirst,  is  ardently  to  desire  the  truths 
of  salvation  :  to  go  to  Jesus,  is  to  apply  to  Jehovah  in  his  Hu- 
manity as  their  only  Source  :  and  to  drink,  is  to  receive  and  ap- 
propriate them.  The  effect  hereof,  in  enlightening  the  mind 
and  imparting  spiritual  life,  He  expresses  by  going  on  to  say, 
"He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his 
belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water;"  which  the  evangelist  ex- 
plains by  adding,  "This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  who 
believe  on  him  should  receive :  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet, 
because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified."    If  then  his  glorifica- 


372 


LECTURE  XXII. 


tion,  which  took  place  at  his  resurrection  and  ascension,  and  of 
which  his  death,  as  to  the  maternal  humanity,  was  a  necessary 
preliminary,  was  requisite  for  the  impartation  of  the  saving  mer- 
cies here  offered,  how  easy  is  it  to  see  what  was  the  nature  of 
the  Atonement  thus  accomplished! — namely,  agreement  or  con- 
cord between  God  and  man,  effected  by  the  removal  of  the  en- 
mity in  man's  heart,  by  the  communication  of  that  spiritual 
drink,  which  the  Lord  here  declares  is  to  be  received  from  his 
Glorified  Humanity, — that  is,  of  those  graces  of  the  Spirit,  that 
living  water,  which  the  evangelist  affirms  could  not  be  given  till 
his  Humanity  was  glorified. 

It  will  be  useful  here  to  examine  the  manner  in  which  Atone- 
ment is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  of  truth. 

In  the  Old  Testament,  the  expression  frequently  occurs ;  and 
as  it  is  in  the  Old  Testament  usually  said,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  sacrifices,  that  an  atonement  was  made,  the  notion  has  thence 
been  confirmed,  that  an  atonement  means  the  pardon  of  guilt, 
by  the  substitution  of  a  victim  to  bear  its  penalty  in  lieu  of  the 
sinner  himself.  What  has  been  offered  on  the  nature  of  sacri- 
fices, in  our  Lectures  on  the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  on 
the  Levitical  Sacrifices,  will  be  amply  sufficient  to  correct  this 
misapprehension.  If  we  understand  sacrifices,  when  presented 
by  man,  to  represent  the  offering  to  the  Lord  of  the  worship  of 
a  heart  deeply  acknowledging  that  all  good  is  from  Him,  and 
dedicating  to  him  the  heavenly  graces  which  are  received  from 
Him,  we  may  easily  apprehend  what  was  the  nature  of  the 
Atonement  at  which  they  pointed.  Thus,  as  there  can  be  no 
worship  of  the  Lord  from  heavenly  affections  unless  they  have 
first  been  received  from  Him,  and  as  such  a  reception  implies 
that  renewal  of  the  heart  and  mind  which  is  called  regeneration, 
it  is  evident  that,  where  this  has  taken  place,  there  is  atonement, 
that  is  agreement,  or  reconciliation,  restored  between  the  wor- 
shipper and  the  Object  of  his  worship.  That  atonement  does 
actually,  in  Scripture,  mean  agreement,  and  cannot  be  intended 
to  express  the  vicarious  suffering  of  punishment,  is  evident  from 
a  variety  of  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  where  atonement  is 
said  to  be  made  without  the  intervention  of  any  victim  at  all. 
Thus,  after  the  Israelites  had  transgressed  by  worshipping  the 


THE  ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED. 


373 


golden  calf,  Moses  said,  in  the  passage  which  I  have  read  as  a 
text,  "  Ye  have  sinned  a  great  sin :  and  now  I  will  go  up  unto 
the  Lord  ;  perad venture  I  shall  make  an  atonement  for  your  sin  ;" 
meaning,  that  they  might  be  reconciled  to  God  b}'  his  prayers. 
No  sacrifice  was  here  offered,  so  that  no  idea  of  "  substitution," 
of  "  amends,"  or  of  "compensation,"  can  possibly  be  introduced  : 
Moses,  by  prayer  only,  made  an  atonement  for  the  people, — 
effected  their  reconciliation.  So  when  a  plague  had  broken  out 
in  the  camp  in  consequence  of  the  people's  murmuring  at  the 
fate  of  Korah  and  his  companions,  "  Moses  said  to  Aaron,  Take  a 
censer,  and  put  fire  therein  from  off  the  altar,  and  put  on  incense, 
and  go  quickly  unto  the  congregation  and  make  an  atonement 
for  them."  There  are  many  similar  instances,  in  which  it  is 
evident  that  no  idea  of  substituted  punishment  can  be  intended, 
but  that  whatever  was  efficient  in  causing  agreement  or  recon- 
ciliation between  man  and  God  is  termed  an  atonement.  How 
truly  then  was  atonement  or  agreement  procured  by  the  glorifi- 
cation of  the  Lord's  Humanity !  since,  as  already  explained, 
Humanity  being  thus  first  reconciled,  and  even  perfectly  united, 
with  Divinity  in  his  Person,  the  means  of  effecting  agreement  be- 
tween man  and  God,  in  the  only  manner  in  which  it  can  be 
real, — that  is,  by  the  renewal  of  man's  heart,  through  a  submis- 
sion to  the  divine  operations  for  the  purpose, — were  thence  poured 
forth,  with  an  abundance  and  power  which  nothing  else  could 
possibly  have  afforded. 

But  let  us  come  to  the  New  Testament,  and  see  what  this 
says  upon  the  subject.  Here,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  when 
quoting  the  text  to  show  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  atonement," 
the  word  itself  occurs  but  in  one  single  instance ;  which  is  in 
Rom.  v.  11  :  and  some  may  feel  a  little  surprised,  judging  from 
the  manner  in  which  the  term  is  there  used,  how  the  conclusion 
can  have  been  formed,  that  Jesus  Christ  made  an  atonement  to 
the  Father,  or  satisfied  his  justice  and  appeased  his  wrath,  as  the 
phrase  is  understood  to  mean ;  when  yet  it  is  declared,  in  the 
only  passage  of  the  New  Testament  in  which  the  word  is  found, 
that  it  is  we  who  have  received  the  atonement.  The  Apostle 
Paul  says,  "We joy  in  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by 
whom  also  we  have  received  the  atonement."    The  reason  why 


374 


LECTURE  XXII. 


this,  when  pointed  out,  may  occasion  some  surprise,  is,  because 
few  have  attended  to  the  proper  meaning  of  the  original  Greek 
term,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  reconciliation  ;  and  it  was  man 
who  was  reconciled,  and  who  required  to  be  reconciled,  to  God  ; 
not  God  who  required  to  be  reconciled  to  man.  Just  in  the 
same  way,  the  Apostle  delivers  this  doctrine  of  Atonement  or 
reconciliation  in  the  most  solemn  and  express  manner,  when  he 
says,  in  the  other  passage  which  I  have  already  quoted  for  the 
meaning  of  the  original  word,  and  which  T  also  recited  in  the 
second  Lecture  on  Mediation,  but  which  is  necessary  to  be  borne 
in  mind  when  considering  the  doctrine  itself,  "  All  things  are  of 
God,  who  hath  reconciled  us  to  himself  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  hath 
committed  unto  us  the  ministry  of  reconciliation," — that  is,  of 
atonement.  What  was  this  ministry?  what  were  its  ministers  to 
teach  ?  The  Apostle  informs  us  by  immediately  adding,  "  To 
wit :  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  him- 
self; not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them"  [2  Cor.  v.  18, 
19.]  What  can  be  more  clear,  more  explicit,  more  lovely? 
Christ  was  not,  as  a  separate  Divine  Person,  reconciling  or  mak- 
ing atonement  for  the  world  to  God,  as  another  Divine  Person  ; 
but  God  himself  was  in  Christ,  as  the  soul  of  man  is  in  his  body, 
reconciling  the  world — bringing  it  into  a  state  of  agreement  or 
al-one-ment — with  himself.  And  so  far  from  exacting  a  rigour- 
ous  satisfaction  for  his  offended  justice, — of  which  the  Apostle 
says  not  a  word, — He  effected  this  reconciliation  of  his  own  free 
motion,  "  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them." 

Behold,  my  friends,  the  genuine  Apostolic  doctrine  of  Atone- 
ment or  Reconciliation!  How  widely  different  from  that  which 
men  have  substituted  for  it,  and  which  commonly  passes  under 
the  name  of  the  Atonement !  From  the  true  doctrine  we  learn, 
that  by  taking  our  nature  in  the  Person  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  God  has  opened  a  new  means  of  access  to  Himself,  and 
has  put  Himself  into  a  covenant-relation  with  those  who,  by  ex- 
ercising faith  in  Him  as  thus  manifested,  come  into  a  state  re- 
ceptive of  his  saving  mercies.  Thus  are  we  placed  in  a  state  of 
agreement,  reconciliation,  or  at-one-ment  with  Him.  We  no 
longer  stand  afar  off  in  a  state  of  alienation,  but  come  into  con- 
nexion with  Him  as  His  covenanted  people  :  and  the  terms  of 


THE   ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  375 


the  covenant  are,  that,  receiving  power  from  Him  to  enable  us  to 
do  so,  as  is  now  the  privilege  of  all,  if  we  are  obedient  to  his 
will,  renouncing  whatever  is  offensive  in  His  sight,  and,  in  affec- 
tion, thought,  and  practice,  following  those  things  which  He  ap- 
proves and  enjoins,  we  shall  be  gifted  by  Him  with  a  new  nature, 
being  created  anew  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness,  and  shall 
be  made  partakers  of  eternal  salvation. 

But  the  Atonement  or  reconciliation  of  man  with  God,  effected 
by  the  Lord's  assumption  and  glorification  of  the  Humanity,  may 
be  viewed  in  a  sense  more  general,  more  comprehensive  still.  By 
this  great  work,  Atonement  was  effected  for  the  whole  human 
race.  The  communication  between  God  and  man  which  had 
been  broken  off,  and  which,  with  the  unclothed  Divinity,  had 
been  rendered  impossible,  by  the  depth  of  man's  fall  and  aliena- 
tion, was  restored  by  God's  investing  himself  with  Humanity, 
and  thus,  so  to  speak,  taking  to  himself  the  means  of  reaching 
and  communicating  with  man  again.  This  is  the  true  import  of 
the  declaration  of  the  Apostle  when  he  says,  that  even  "  when  we 
were  enemies  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  his 
Son"  [Rom.  v.  10].  To  be  reconciled  to  God  "  when  we  were 
enemies,"  can  mean  no  other,  than  to  be  placed  in  a  state  capable 
of  receiving  his  mercies,  and  in  which  he  can  dispense  them  to 
us,  and  hold  communication  with  us,  whether  we  savingly  receive 
his  gifts  or  not.  This  is  said  to  be  effected  "  by  the  death  of  his 
Son,"  not  because  this  appeased  divine  vengeance,  but  because 
his  death  was  indispensable  to  the  complete  putting  off"  of  the 
infirm  humanity  and  putting  on  of  the  Divine  Humanity,  and 
thus  to  the  perfect  union  of  the  Divinity  and  the  Humanity  in 
Himself ;  till  which  was  accomplished,  the  separating  chasm  be- 
tween God  and  created  man  could  not,  so  to  speak,  be  bridged 
over.  But,  as  the  Apostle  argues,  if  this  were  done, — if  we  were 
thus  reconciled, — "  when  we  were  enemies,  much  more,  being 
reconciled,  shall  we  be  saved  by  his  life  ;" — being  put  into  a' 
state  in  which  we  may  receive  the  Lord's  saving  mercies,  and 
this  capability  being  imparted  without  any  co-operation  of  ours, 
much  more  shall  we,  if  we  avail  ourselves  of  the  blessing,  by 
exerting  the  capacity  thus  bestowed  upon  us,  "  be  saved  by 
His  fife," — by  admitting  the  life-giving  streams,  the  salvation 


376 


LECTURE  XXII. 


imparting  energies,  which  thenceforth  ever  flow  from  Him  "who 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us,"  in  the  way  explained 
in  our  Lectures  on  that  subject.  The  benefits  which  we  shall 
experience,  as  consequent  upon  the  individual  atonement  which 
we  then  shall  realize,  are  those  which  I  have  just  faintly  de- 
scribed. 

III.  Thus  then  we  see  how  real  was  the  Atonement  effected 
for  us  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  we  see,  also,  how  it  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  divine  attributes  of  Absolute  Unity 
and  Immutable  Love,  and  with  the  concentration  of  the  whole 
Trinity  in  his  adorable  Person.  The  Atonement,  as  commonly 
understood,  requires,  as  we  have  seen,  and  as  those  who  hold  it 
as  we  have  also  seen,  feel  in  their  hearts,  a  belief  in  another  God 
beside  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  plain  then  that  the  common 
idea  of  it  must  be  erroneous  ;  and  yet  as  we  are  in  the  last  place 
to  show,  they  who  have  been  accustomed  to  the  usual  mode  of  ex- 
plaining this  doctrine  need  not  hesitate  to  embrace  the  view  we  have 
been  offering  instead  of  it  ;  for  we  admit  all  that  is  usually  said  about 
it  to  be  consistent  with  the  truth,  provided  we  understand  the  terms  em- 
ployed, (such  as  the  Father,  the- Son,  the  wrath  of  God,  and  its 
appeasement,)  in  the  same  sense  as  they  always  bear  when  used  in  the 
Holy  Word. 

Nothing  can  be  more  certain,  as  we  demonstrated  at  some 
length  in  our  third  Lecture,  than  that  the  most  essential  property 
of  the  Divine  Nature  is  Love.  And  if  what  I  am  about  to  say 
on  that  subject,  should  remind  you  of  some  things  that  I  said 
then,  I  trust,  that  the  very  different  application  which  I  shall 
make  of  them,  and  the  immense  importance  of  the  subject  which 
I  propose  thus  to  illustrate,  will  amply  suffice  to  prevent  what  I 
shall  offer  from  palling  on  the  ear  like  a  twice-told  tale. 

Nothing,  then,  I  repeat,  can  be  more  certain,  than  that  the 
most  essential  attribute  of  the  Divine  Author  of  our  being  is 
Love.  "  God  is  love,"  says  the  Apostle  John  [1  Ep.  iv.  8,  16]  ; 
in  which  truly  evangelical  sentiment  he  only  re-echoes  the  re- 
peated testimonies  of  the  inspired  writers  under  the  Law  :  "  The 
Lord  is  good  to  all,  and  His  tender  mercies  are  over  all  His 
works,"  is  the  declaration  of  the  heaven-taught  Psalmist  [Psalm 
cxlv.  9]  ;  and  it  is  over  and  over  again  affirmed,  that  "  the  Lord 


THE   ATONEMENT   AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  377 


is  gracious  and  merciful,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  good- 
ness and  truth"  [Ex.  xxxiv.  6,  &c.].  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
also  declares,  Himself,  that  He  "  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on  the 
evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the 
unjust"  [Matt.  v.  45]  ;  meaning,  not  merely  that  He  blesses  the 
products  of  the  earth  without  regard  to  the  state  of  the  cultivator, 
but  that  He  imparts  the  influences  of  His  love,  signified  by  the 
rising  of  the  sun,  and  the  communication  of  His  truth,  signified 
by  sending  His  rain  alike  to  all,  bestowing  on  each  whatever  the 
necessities  of  his  state  require.  Can  He  then  possibly  possess  a 
spark  of  anger  in  His  own  nature  ?  Can  he  burn  with  vengeance, 
even  against  the  evil,  while  He  thus  extends  His  mercies  to  them, 
equally  with  the  good  ?  Or  is  the  idea  of  His  almost  relentless 
wrath  against  sinners  at  all  reconcilable  with  the  reason  assigned 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  for  his  coming  to  redeem  them  ? 
which  is,  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish, 
but  should  have  everlasting  life"  [John  iii.  16]  :  whence  it  is 
evident,  if  Himself  is  to  be  believed,  that  Jesus  came  and  died, 
not  to  satisfy  the  Father's  anger,  but  His  love. 

But  how  is  this  to  be  reconciled,  it  may  be  asked,  with  such 
passages  as  seem  expressly  to  ascribe  anger  to  God, — as  when  it 
is  said  that  He  "  is  angry  with  the  wicked  every  day"  [Ps.  vii.  11]. 
We  answer,  The  reconciliation  of  the  two  classes  of  passages  is 
perfectly  easy,  if  we  admit,  as  was  shown  in  our  Lecture  on  the 
subject,  that  some  parts  of  the  Divine  Word  speak,  in  their 
literal  sense,  if  taken  by  itself,  according  to  apparent  truth, 
whilst  others  express  genuine  truth  in  the  very  letter  ;  and  if  we 
understand  the  former — the  apparent — in  agreement  with  the 
latter — the  genuine, — not  wresting  the  genuine  to  make  them 
agree  with  the  apparent.  Two  opposite  assertions  cannot  both 
be  true  in  the  same  sense  :  and  yet  the  Holy  Word  sometimes 
ascribes  anger  to  God,  and  sometimes  love.  These  attributes 
being  directly  opposite  to  each  other,  He  cannot  possibly  possess 
both.  Nor  is  the  difficulty  removed  by  saying,  that  He  cherishes 
love  for  the  good  and  anger  against  the  wicked ;  since,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  many  passages  affirm  that  even  towards  the 
wicked  He  cherishes  love,  and  does  nothing  to  them  but  good. 


378 


LECTURE  XXII. 


There  is  then  no  way  of  reconciling  such  opposite  declarations, 
but  by  admitting  that  the  passages  which  ascribe  anger  to  Him 
are  expressed  according  to  the  appearance,  as  it  seems  to  the 
debased  apprehensions  of  the  carnal  mind  :  while  those  which 
affirm  that  He  is  nothing  but  Love,  describe  His  nature  as  it  is 
in  itself,  and  as  it  is  felt  to  be  by  the  enlightened  preceptions  of 
the  eminently  good.  This  may  be  illustrated  by  many  instances 
in  our  common  conversations,  in  which,  for  the  sake  of  con- 
venience, we  speak  according  to  the  appearance  but  contrary  to> 
the  reality  ;  but  which  create  no  confusion  where  the  reality  is 
acknowedged,  into  which  the  appearance  is  turned,  as  soon  as  it 
is  mentioned,  in  the  mind  of  the  intelligent  hearer.  Let  us  take 
an  example. 

It  is  an  appearance,  that  the  sun  passes  round  the  earth  every 
twenty-four  hours  ;  and  hence  we  always  say,  in  common  speech 
or  writing,  that  the  sun  rises  and  sets,  is  so  far  before  or  after  its 
meridian,  &c. :  and  yet  the  truth  is,  that  the  sun,  relatively  to 
the  earth,  never  moves  at  all ;  nor  do  intelligent  persons,  when 
they  speak  of  his  rising  or  setting,  mean  seriously  to  affirm  that 
he  does :  for  they  know  that  it  is  the  earth  which  moves,  not  the 
sun  ;  thus  that  the  appearance  is  just  the  opposite  of  the  reality  : 
and  the  reason  why  they  still  speak  according  to  the  appearance, 
is,  because  it  would  require  many  more  words,  and  thus  be  very 
inconvenient,  to  speak  according  to  the  naked,  unclothed  truth. 
To  say  that  the  sun  moves,  is  to  speak  according  to  the  appear- 
ance that  is  presented  to  our  senses,  to  which  it  can  never  appear 
to  be  otherwise  ;  but  to  think  at  the  same  time  that  the  motion  is 
in  the  earth,  is  to  correct  the  imperfect  and  fallacious  apprehen- 
sion of  the  senses  by  the  assistance  of  reason  and  science.  So,  when 
the  Scripture  ascribes  anger  to  God,  it  speaks  according  to  the 
appearance  as  apprehended  by  the  wicked,  who  can  never  con- 
ceive otherwise :  for  to  think,  nevertheless,  that  all  the  anger  is 
in  man,  is  only  attainable  by  an  elevation  of  the  mind,  at  least 
for  the  moment,  out  of  its  evil  state,  when  its  former  gross  ap- 
prehensions are  corrected  by  a  heavenly  illumination.  It  is  then 
seen  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  speak  genuine  truth  when  they 
declare  that  God  is  Love.  Thus,  when  the  Scripture  speaks  of 
the  Lord  as  being  angry  with  sinners,  it  is  not  that  He  is  really 


THE  ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  379 


angry,  but  that  there  is  such  a  contrariety  between  their  per- 
verse inclinations  and  his  divine  attributes,  that  these  appear  to 
them  exactly  the  reverse  of  what  they  really  are.  Hence  it  is 
that  the  Lord's  Divine  Love  appears  to  them  like  anger ;  whereas 
the  anger  is  not  in  the  Lord,  but  in  themselves. 

This  may  be  illustrated  by  another  familiar  example  taken 
from  natural  things. 

How  different  is  the  aspect  of  the  sun,  when  viewed  in  a  clear 
day,  from  that  which  it  exhibits  when  beheld  through  an  atmos- 
phere full  of  fog  or  smoke !  yet  the  sun  (which  is  an  emblem  of 
the  Lord)  is  at  all  times  the  same,  though  the  earth  with  its 
atmosphere  (which  is  an  emblem  of  man)  is  not  at  all  times  in 
the  same  state  for  receiving  his  beams  of  heat  and  light.  Viewed 
through  a  watery  mist,  the  sun  will  appear  pale  and  rayless ; 
viewed  through  a  cloud  of  smoke,  it  will  appear  lurid  and  dusky. 
Just  so,  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  is  viewed  through  the 
dense  mental  mists  and  fogs  which  obscure  the  perceptions  of 
those  who  are  immersed  in  evil  affections,  will  his  benign  attri- 
butes seem  to  suffer  perversion.  What  in  Him  is  love,  will 
appear  like  anger  :  and  the  debased  beholder,  with  the  wicked  in 
the  Revelation,  will  spiritually  exclaim  at  the  view,  "to  the 
mountains  and  hills"  of  his  own  evil  loves  and  false  persuasions, 
in  which  he  hardens  himself  to  resist  the  divine  influence,  "Fall 
on  us,  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of  Him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb"  [Rev.  vi.  16]  ;  though 
the  face  of  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne, — that  is  the  interior 
dispositions  of  the  Essential  Divine  Nature, — can  never  cease  to 
wear  a  smiling  aspect ;  and  the  Lamb — the  Divine  Humanity — 
will  ever  be  filled  with  pure  love,  and  burn  with  the  desire  of 
imparting  it  to  mankind.  So  unalterably  true  is  the  assertion 
of  the  Psalmist,  that  the  Lord  appears  to  every  one  according  to 
his  state  :  "  With  the  merciful,  thou  wilt  show  Thyself  merciful : 
with  the  upright  man,  thou  wilt  show  Thyself  upright ;  with  the 
pure,  thou  wilt  show  Thyself  pure  ;  and  with  the  froward,  thou 
wilt  show  Thyself  froward"  [Ps.  xviii.  26].  Can  any  suppose 
that  these  differences  are  in  the  Lord  Himself?  No,  surely !  Is 
it  not  much  more  consistent  to  admit,  that  the  diversity  of  man's 
states  for  receiving  his  influences  occasions  all  the  diversity  which 


380 


LECTURE  XXII. 


appears  to  be  in  Him  ?  since  He  declares  of  Himself  by  Malachi, 
I  am  the  Lord:  I  change  not  [ch.  iii.  6];  by  James,  that  "in 
Him  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning'''  [ch.  i.  17]  ; 
and  by  Paul,  that  He  is  "  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and 
for  ever'''  [Heb.  xiii.  8]. 

To  apply  this  view  to  the  manner  in  which  man's  state  by 
nature,  and  his  salvation  through  the  Lord's  Atonement,  are 
generally  represented.  We  have  already  seen,  in  this  and  for- 
mer Lectures,  that  man  in  his  fallen  state  has  removed  himself 
to  such  a  distance  from  the  Divine  Being,  as  no  longer  to  be 
capable  of  receiving  spiritual  influences  from  the  pure  Divinity 
uninvested  with  Humanity.  While  abiding  in  this  state,  and 
immersed  in  the  dense  mental  atmosphere,  or  darkened  faculty 
of  perception,  suitable  to  it,  the  divine  perfections  cannot  possibly 
appear  to  him  such  as  they  really  are,  but  must  suffer  as  much 
apparent  change  as  the  rays  of  the  sun  do  in  passing  through  a 
thick  fog.  To  speak  then  according  to  the  appearance,  such  as 
it  is  to  a  man  in  this  state,  we  may  say  that  the  divine  ven- 
geance burns  against  him  :  and  there  would  be  no  impropriety 
in  our  expressing  ourselves  in  this  manner,  if  we  meant,  as  we 
do  when  we  speak  of  the  sun  rising  and  setting,  the  direct  re- 
verse, namely,  that  the  evil  lusts  of  the  sinner  render  him  un- 
receptive  of  the  Lord's  divine  love,  and  make  it  appear  to  him 
like  vengeance.  We  have  seen,  also,  that  by  the  assumption  of  the 
Humanity,  the  Lord  so  accommodated  His  divine  influences  to 
the  fallen  state  in  which  man  was,  as  to  reach  and  affect  him 
even  there,  and  enable  him  to  emerge  out  of  it,  and  so  receive 
the  Lord's  love  as  love  ;  and  if  we  were  to  speak  of  this  in  the 
same  kind  of  language  as  before,  drawn  from  appearance  alone, 
we  might  say,  that  the  Son  (meaning  the  Divine  Humanity,) 
satisfied  the  justice  of  the  Father  (or  unclothed  Divinity,)  and 
turned  aside  his  wrath  :  meaning,  that  the  divine  perfections  of 
righteousness  and  goodness  no  longer  appeared  as  vindictive 
exaction  and  wrath  to  the  sinner's  altered  mind.  And  it  would 
be  equally  correct  to  ascribe  this  atonement,  this  making  of 
agreement,  to  the  efficacy  of  the  Lord's  death  :  because  His 
death  was  the  last  stage  of  the  process  by  which  He  made  His 
Humanity  Divine  ;  and,  we  have  repeatedly  shown,  it  is  only 


THE   ATONEMENT  AFFIRMATIVELY  CONSIDERED.  381 


from  His  Humanity,  thus  made  Divine,  that  the  saving  influences 
can  proceed,  hy  which  man  is  restored  to  a  state  of  order,  and 
enabled  to  behold  His  Maker,  such  as  He  really  is,  All  Benefi- 
cent, Merciful,  and  Good  ; — who  pants  not  for  vengeance,  who, 
as  Himself  declares,  desires  not  the  death  of  the  sinner  (neither 
in  person  nor  in  proxy),  but  had  rather  he  would  turn  from  his 
wickedness  and  live! 

Thus  then  we  see  how  easy  it  is  to  understand,  not  only  the 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement  itself,  but  all  that  is  usually  said  re- 
specting it,  in  agreement  with  the  great  truths,  of  the  Indivisible 
Unity  of  the  Godhead,  the  Sole  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
concentration  of  the  Trinity  in  His  Sacred  Person,  and  the  Un- 
alterable Benevolence  of  the  Divine  Nature.  The  errors  that 
have  become  common  on  this  subject  have  all  arisen  from  turn- 
ing appearances  into  realities,  and  understanding  that  which  is 
said  as  descriptive  of  the  apprehensions  of  the  carnal  minded,  as 
a  just  representation  of  the  Divine  Nature  itself.  A  celebrated 
writer  of  hymns,  describing  the  effect  of  an  acceptance  of  the 
Lord's  atonement  by  a  penitent  sinner,  says,  in  reference  to  the 
Divine  Being,  that  it 

"  —  turns  His  wrath  to  grace  :"  . 
and  this  is  a  true  representation,  if  understood  as  descriptive  of 
the  altered  perceptions  of  the  sinner;  but  it  becomes  a  gross 
libel  upon  the  Deity,  if  the  change  is  believed  to  be  in  Him. 
We  have  just  noticed  how  strongly  the  Scripture  declares  the 
Immutability  of  the  Lord,  which  is  such  that  in  Him  there  is 
not  even  any  "shadow  of  turning ;"  which  divinely  inspired 
declarations  we  charge  with  falsehood,  when  we  speak  of  His 
turning  His  wrath  to  grace,  if  we  suppose  the  turning  to  be 
really  in  Him  :  whereas  this  becomes  both  a  significant  and  con- 
venient form  of  expression,  when  understood  according  to  its  real 
force,  as  referring  to  the  change  effected  in  the  sinner's  apper- 
ceptions. The  case  is  the  same  with  all  the  passages  in  the 
Holy  Word  which  ascribe  anger  to  God,  and  all  the  phrases  in 
which,  in  ordinary  language,  ministers  and  others  speak  of  the 
Atonement.  Understand  them  as  we  understand  each  other 
when  we  speak  of  the  sun  as  rising  or  setting, — as  phrases  ex- 
pressive of  the  apprehensions  of  our  senses,  but  in  which  the 


382 


LECTURE  XXII. 


sensual  apprehension  must  be  corrected  by  rational  and  spiritual 
light,  and  then  we  shall  obtain  correct  ideas  ;  otherwise  we  fall 
into  errors  of  the  same  kind,  but  of  far  worse  consequences,  (as 
errors  in  spiritual  things  are  of  more  importance  than  errors  in 
natural,)  as  an  astronomer  would  do  who  should  seriously  main- 
tain, that  the  sun  whirls  round  the  earth  once  every  day,  and 
that  all  the  varieties  of  appearance  which  he  exhibits,  arise  not 
from  changes  in  the  circumstances  of  the  earth  with  respect  to 
him,  but  from  positive  changes  in  the  sun  himself. 

I  will  protract  this  long  Lecture  no  further.  I  trust,  when 
what  has  now  been  offered  is  dispassionately  weighed,  that  all 
not  too  deeply  confirmed  in  common  errors,  will  admit  that  we 
have  established  all  that  we  proposed,  and  that  the  idea  of  the 
Atonement  which  we  offer  as  the  doctrine  of  the  true  Christian 
Religion,  is  far  more  consistent  with  the  honour  of  God,  as  the 
Father  of  mercies,  than  that  commonly  entertained.  May  it 
then  be  our  object  to  appropriate  the  benefits  wrought  for  us  by 
the  Lord's  assumption  and  glorification  of  the  Humanity.  Let  us, 
without  dreaming  of  a  momentaneous  salvation  by  a  mere  faith 
in  what  the  Lord  hath  done  for  us,  apply  ourselves  in  humble 
prayer  to  this*  Father  of  Mercies,  with  full  confidence  in  His  om- 
nipotence as  our  Saviour,  to  receive  the  divine  aids  thus  put 
within  our  reach.  Let  us  strive,  thus  assisted,  after  that  new- 
ness of  heart  and  life,  by  which  alone  the  enmity  of  our  corrupt 
nature  can  be  removed,  and  atonement,  reconciliation,  of  agree- 
ment, be  produced  between  us  and  our  God. 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES  DISPLAYED 
TOWARDS  HIM  IN  THE  SACRIFICE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST,  THE 
OFFER  OF  SALVATION  BY  HIS  BLOOD,  HIS  MEDIATION,  AND 
HIS  ATONEMENT. 


John  xvii.  19. 

"  For  their  sakes  I  sanctify  myself;  that  they  also  might  be  sancti- 
fied through  fhe  truth. 

We  have  now  arrived,  my  friends  and  brethren,  at  the  close  of 
the  Series  of  Lectures  in  which  we  have  hitherto  been  engaged, 
on  those  doctrines  of  the  True  Christian  Religion  which  relate, 
more  especially,  to  the  Author  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  of 
all  Creation,  and  his  wonderful  and  gracious  works  for  the 
eternal  benefit  of  his  creatures.  These  Lectures  have  consisted 
of  two  general  branches  :  those  of  the  first  class  treating  of  the 
Nature  and  Person  of  the  Divine  Object  of  worship,  and  those 
of  the  second  of  his  divine  operations  for  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind. These  being  all  doctrinal  subjects,  did  not  admit  of  my 
introducing  much  matter  of  a  directly  practical  tendency  ;  though 
I  have  also  endeavoured  to  connect  them  throughout,  as  all  true 
doctrine  ever  must  be  connected,  with  views  and  considerations 
calculated  to  affect  the  heart  and  influence  the  life.  But,  without 
departing  from  the  main  design  of  the  whole  series, — to  deliver, 
on  the  most  important  subjects,  the  genuine  doctrines  of  the 
true  Christian  Religion, — it  is  proposed,  in  this  and  some  sub- 
sequent Lectures,  to  treat  of  some  doctrines  which  are  more 
directly  practical,  and  which  point  out  the  bearings  of  the  more 
abstruse  and  abstract  points  of  the  Christian  faith  upon  the 
life  and  conduct  of  those  who  embrace  it.    It  is  of  the  second 


384 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


branch  of  the  whole  series,  and  thus  of  both  the  preceding,  that 
our  Lecture  of  this  evening  is  properly  designed  to  form  the  con- 
clusion. For  having  treated  in  this  second  branch  of  the  series, 
of  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  other  points  of 
the  doctrine  connected  with  this  subject,  it  is  intended  in  this 
Lecture  to  give  the  whole  a  practical  bearing,  by  offering  an 
answer  to  the  inquiry,  How  is  man  to  profit  by  the  Divine  mercies 
displayed  towards  him  by  the  Redemption  effected  for  him  by 
Jesus  Christ,  by  his  Sacrifice,  by  the  offer  of  Salvation  by  his 
blood,  by  his  Mediation,  Intercession  and  Advocateship,  and 
by  his  Atonement?  in  other  words,  What  is  (he  nature  and  extent 
of  the  benefits  procured  for  man  by  these  divine  works  of  his  Sa- 
viour God  ? 

We  must  bear  in  mind  what  these  divine  operations  in  them- 
selves actually  are,  as  they  have  been  explained  in  our  former 
Lectures ;  that  Redemption,  properly  and  strictly  so  called,  con- 
sisted in  man's  deliverance  from  the  preponderating  power  of 
hell,  through  the  Lord's  permitting  the  infernal  powers  to  assault 
with  temptations  his  Humanity  taken  from  the  virgin,  and  thus 
subduing  and  removing  them  :  that  the  Sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  complete  devotion,  dedication,  and  sanctification  of  his 
Human  Nature  to  his  Divine,  so  as  to  be  perfectly  assimilated 
to  his  Divinity  and  so  entirely  glorified,  as  to  become  the  proper 
form  of  the  Divinity  itself,  for  its  complete  and  full  indwelling, 
not  as  in  an  extraneous  subject,  but  as  the  soul  in  its  own  body, 
and  thus  to  be  the  proper  organ  for  the  exercise  of  the  Divine 
Omnipotence:  that  Salvation  is  procured  through  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ,  because  by  his  blood  is  signified,  in  a  natural 
sense,  his  death,  and  without  his  death  his  glorification  could  not 
have  been  effected  ;  and  because,  also,  by  his  blood,  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  is  signified  and  represented  his  Divine  Truth,  which  pro- 
ceeds from  his  glorified  Humanity  for  the  salvation  of  mankind, 
being  the  same  thing  as  is  meant  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  when  it  is 
said,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  not  yet,  because  that  Jesus  was 
not  yet  glorified  :  that  the  Mediation  and  Intercession  of  Jesus 
Christ  consist  in  the  access  which  is  afforded  for  man  to  God  in 
the  Lord's  Glorified  Humanity,  and  in  the  communication  from 
God  to  man,  by  the  same  blessed  medium,  of  the  gifts  and 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES,  &C.  38-5 

graces  necessary  for  his  salvation,  in  a  form  and  with  a  power 
accommodated  to  his  state :  and  that  the  Atonement  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  reconciliation  effected  for  man  with  God,  by  first 
glorifying  the  human  nature  in  his  own  sacred  person,  and  from 
the  humanity  thus  glorified  in  himself,  operating  for  its  purifi- 
cation in  those  who  look  to  him  for  the  purpose,  thus  removing 
the  contrariety  between  fallen  humanity  and  divine  purity,  and 
reconciling,  atoning,  or  making  them  at  one  again. 

What  then  is  the  regular  result  of  these  divine  works  of  the 
Lord  for  the  benefit  of  man  ?  What  is  the  way  of  salvation 
thus  opened  before  him  ?  Clearly  this :  Man  is  thus  placed 
again,  every  individual  for  himself,  as  Adam  was  in  paradise, — 
in  a  free  state  of  probation.  The  corruptions  and  evils  of  human 
nature,  as  it  exists  in  mankind,  are  neither  abolished,  nor 
removed,  nor  made  of  no  account,  by  the  redeeming  acts  of  the 
Lord ;  but  man  is  put  in  such  state,  that,  notwithstanding  his 
own  infirmities,  he  can  freely  receive  divine  aids  from  the  Lord, 
and  thus  be  drawn  out  of  them  and  delivered  from  them.  In  a 
word,  every  man  is  redeemed, — is  delivered  from  the  preponde- 
rating power  of  hell,  so  as  not  to  be  its  slave  any  further  than  he 
chooses  to  remain  or  make  himself  so ;  and  salvation,  which  is 
man's  individual  and  final  deliverance  from  hell  and  elevation 
into  heaven,  is  freely  offered  to  his  acceptance,  and  put  fully  within 
his  reach.  But  whether  a  man,  individually,  shall  be  saved  or 
not,  depends  upon  whether  or  not  he  walks  in  the  way  of  salva- 
tion thus  opened  before  him,  makes  use  of  the  mercies  offered 
him,  and  complies  with  the  conditions  on  which  salvation  is 
tendered.  Man,  we  see  too  palpably,  still  continues  to  be  prone 
to  sin,  and  too  many  recklessly  persevere  in  the  commission  of 
it :  and  Jesus  Christ,  we  know  did  not  come  to  save  men  in 
their  sins,  but  from  their  sins,  as  was  declared  by  the  angel  who 
announced  his  approaching  birth  [Matt.  i.  21]  :  and  men  can  only 
be  saved  from  their  sins,  as,  by  virtue  of  the  power  communi- 
cated by  the  influence  proceeding  from  the  Lord's  Glorified  Hu- 
manity, they  desist  from  them,  forsake  them,  and  cultivate  the 
opposite  graces  of  heart  and  life  imparted  from  the  same  source. 
According  to  the  declaration  of  Jesus  in  our  text,  he  sanctified 
himself  for  the  sake  of  his  people :  not  that  his  sanctification 
25 


386 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


would  of  itself  communicate  sanctification  to  them,  or  would  do 
instead  of  it ;  but  that  they  also  might  be  sanctified  through  the 
truth.  As  he  says  on  another  occasion  to  some  believing  Jews  : 
"If  ye  continue  in  my  word,  then  are  ye  my  disciples  indeed, 
and  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free" 
[John  viii.  31,  32].  What  freedom  is  meant?  Doubtless,  free- 
dom from  the  dominion  of  sin  and  evil.  How  is  this  to  be  effected 
by  knowing  the  truth,  when  many  appear  to  knov)  the  truth  who 
yet  disgrace  it  by  their  lives  ?  Doubtless,  this  freedom  only 
follows,  when  man  obeys  it  also.  "If  ye  keep  my  command- 
ments," saith  Jesus  again,  "ye  shall  abide  in  my  love"  [John 
x.  10].  In  the  same  manner,  by  obeying  the  truth,  man  is  sancti- 
fied through  the  truth.  And  this  sanctification  of  man  is  a 
consequence  of  the  Lord's  having  sanctified  his  Humanity  ; 
because,  thus,  and  no  otherwise,  could  the  power  be  imparted  to 
man  of  yielding  this  all-necessary  obedience.  Man's  sanctifica- 
tion is  his  regeneration,  or  his  being  formed  anew  after  the 
divine  image  and  likeness  :  and  the  Lord's  sanctification  was  his 
glorification,  or  the  complete  assimilation  of  his  Humanity  to  the 
nature  of  his  Divinity. 

Let  us  proceed  then  to  inquire  respecting  the  terms  of  salvation, 
as  they  are  offered  to  man  under  the  dispensation  of  the  Christian 
Religion,  and  to  enable  him  to  comply  with  which  is  the  design 
of  his  redemption  by  the  Lord. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  useful  to  show,  that  the 
Christian  is  a  conditional  dispensation ;  or  that,  under  the  dis- 
pensation of  Christianity,  certain  terms  or  conditions  of  salvation 
are  proposed,  the  compliance  with  which  on  the  part  of  man  is 
indispensable  to  his  attaining  it. 

I  make  some  observations  on  this  subject,  because  I  am  well 
aware,  that  there  are  some  classes  of  the  professors  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  who  dislike  the  mention  of  anything  like 
terms  and  conditions  in  reference  to  salvation.  It  is  common  to 
hear  it  affirmed,  that  salvation  is  all  of  free  grace  :  and  that 
free  grace  excludes  the  idea  of  anything  to  be  done  on  the 
part  of  man,  and  is  inconsistent  with  the  notion  of  terms  or  con- 
ditions. We  readily  admit  that  man's  salvation  is  all  of  free  grace : 
but  it  is  impossible  to  admit  with  truth,  that  this  excludes  every- 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES,  &C  387 

thing  conditional.  Salvation  is  of  free  grace,  because  everything 
necessary  to  effect  it  is  of  the  Lord  alone.  The  whole  work 
of  Redemption  was  the  work  of  the  Lord  alone,  independently 
altogether  of  man.  All  the  graces  necessary  to  constitute  a 
state  of  salvation  are  of  the  Lord  alone,  and  not  one  of  them 
can  originate  with  man.  The  mercies  which  man  is  invited  to 
accept  are  freely  offered  him  by  the  Lord  ;  and  its  being  left  to 
his  own  choice  whether  he  will  accept  them  or  not,  docs  not 
diminish  the  freeness  of  the  grace  by  which  they  are  offered, 
but  raises  it  higher.  If,  for  example,  the  sovereign  of  this 
country  were  to  offer  to  every  one  of  us  a  station  of  dignity  and 
wealth ;  surely  the  free  munificence  of  the  offer  would  not  be 
diminished,  were  we  to  be  left  freely  to  choose  for  ourselves 
whether  or  not  we  would  accept  it !  Nor  yet  would  the  free 
munificence  of  the  offer  be  diminished,  if  certain  personal  quali- 
fications were  annexed  to  the  station,  provided  the  means  of 
attaining  those  qualifications  were  also  freely  put  within  our 
reach.  But  the  free  gifts  of  our  heavenly  Sovereign  extend  still 
farther  than  this, — farther  than  the  munificence  of  any  being 
whose  power  is  not  infinite  can  possibly  do.  For  not  only  is  a 
station  of  the  highest  dignity,  even  that  of  reigning,  as  it  is 
expressed  in  Scripture,  in  heaven  with  our  Lord,  freely  offered 
to  us  all;  not  only  are  the  means  of  acquiring  the  qualifications 
necessary  to  the  enjoyment  of  this  exalted  station  freely  put 
within  our  reach ;  but  the  very  capacity  of  making  use  of  those 
means,  of  which,  of  ourselves,  we  should  be  destitute,  is  freely 
and  unceasingly  communicated  to  us  also ;  so  that,  although 
this  power  never  at  any  moment  belongs  to  us  as  our  own,  it  is 
constantly,  at  every  moment,  imparted  to  us  by  the  Lord.  Thus, 
if  conditions,  such  as  themselves  tend  to  exalt  our  nature,  are 
prescribed  for  us  to  accede  to,  the  power  of  complying  with 
those  conditions  is,  by  free  grace,  ever  afforded  us :  and  this 
constitutes  the  noblest  of  the  Lord's  free  gifts  to  man,  being 
that  which  raises  us  from  the  condition  of  brute  animals  to  that  of 
rational  creatures. 

Now  this  doctrine, — that  man's  salvation  depends  upon  his 
acceptance  of,  and  compliance  with,  the  conditions  upon  which 
it  is  offered,  is  most  abundantly  asserted  in  the  Word  of  God. 


388 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


Indeed,  the  whole  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  proceed  upon  this  supposition :  what  else  is  meant  by  the 
frequent  use  of  the  little  particle  if  so  constantly  employed  in 
them,  when  they  treat  of  man's  acceptance  with  his  Maker  1 
Many  are  fond  of  ridiculing  the  notion  of  there  being  any  ifs 
with  God:  certainly,  however,  in  his  transactions  with  man, 
whose  actions  are  contingent  by  the  very  constitution  of  his 
nature,  this  conditional  particle  is  continually  put  by  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  Lord's  mouth.    A  few  instances  will  prove  the  fact. 

If  ever  there  could  be  any  instance  in  which  the  Lord  made 
choice  of  man,  or  of  any  set  of  men,  unconditionally,  to  be  the 
objects  of  his  favour,  we  should  expect  to  find  it  in  the  case  of 
the  Israelites,  who  were  appointed  to  constitute  the  future 
visible  church  of  the  Lord,  in  his  promise  made  to  Abraham, 
hundreds  of  years  before  the  nation  came  into  existence :  but 
that  even  this  promise,  as  regarded  the  Israelites  themselves, 
was  entirely  conditional,  is  eyident  from  the  divine  declaration 
to  them  immediately  after  their  deliverance  from  Egypt.  We 
read  in  Exodus  xix.  that  "  The  Lord  called  unto  Moses  out  of 
the  mountain,  saying,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  to  the  house  of  Jacob, 
and  tell  the  children  of  Israel :  Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  unto 
the  Egyptians,  and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagle's  wings,  and 
brought  you  unto  myself:  Now,  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my 
voice  indeed,  and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar 
treasure  unto  me  above  all  people  :  for  all  the  earth  is  mine : 
and  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  a  holy 
nation."  Here  we  are  presented  with  a  picture  of  the  whole 
divine  economy  in  regard  to  man's  salvation.  The  first  opera- 
tions for  effecting  it  are  wholly  of  the  Lord  :  he  has  accom- 
plished for  man  the  work  of  redemption,  and  rescued  him  from 
bondage  to  the  infernal  powers,  and  thus  put  him  in  a  capacity 
to  determine  freely  whether  he  will  serve  the  Lord  or  no ;  as  he 
brought  the  children  of  Isreal,  by  his  own  might,  out  of  Egypt : 
He  likewise  offers  his  divine  gifts  to  man, — even  all  that  is  here 
representatively  described  by  their  being  to  him  a  peculiar  trea- 
sure, a  kingdom  of  priests  and  a  holy  nation :  and  he  thus  de- 
sires to  enter  into  a  covenant  with  man.  But  a  covenant  is 
an  agreement  or  treaty  between  two  parties,  by  which  they 


HOW  MAN  IS   TO   PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES,  &C  389 

respectively  bind  themselves  to  the  performance  of  certain  acts. 
Thus  every  covenant  has  its  conditions,  and  is  binding  on  each 
party  respectively,  only  so  long  as  the  conditions  are  performed 
by  the  other.  God,  we  are  certain,  never  can  fail  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  share  of  the  covenant  that  he  makes  with  man  ; 
which  is,  to  bestow  on  him  eternal  happiness,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  impart  to  him  all  the  aids  necessary  to  his  procuring  the 
qualifications  requisite  for  its  enjoyment :  and  man's  share  of  the 
covenant  merely  is,  to  accept  and  make  use  of  the  mercies  af- 
forded him.  If  (to  borrow  the  constant  language  of  the  Divine 
Word  on  the  subject — if)  man  adheres  to  his  part  of  the  condi- 
tions, all  the  promised  blessings  are  assuredly  his  own  :  ?y~he  re- 
fuses to  do  this  ;  if  he  refuses  to  go  to  heaven  unless  driven  there 
by  irresistible  force  (in  which  case,  supposing  it  possible,  his 
heart  would  still  be  in  hell),  he  annuls  the  covenant,  and  ex- 
cludes himself  from  its  benefits. 

Numberless  passages  might  be  adduced  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, in  which  this  conditional  little  word  if,  followed  by  an 
enumeration  of  the  requisites  in  which  the  conditions  consist,  is 
introduced,  where  the  means  of  acceptance  with  God  are  stated. 
But  perhaps  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament  would  be  re- 
garded as  the  mere  dictates  of  the  law,  which  many  strangely 
regard  as  contrary  to  the  gospel.  To  the  gospel  itself  then  let 
us  turn.  "  Except  ye  repent,"  says  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to 
the  Jews, — which  is  the  same  thing  as,  "  If  ye  repent  not, — 
ye  shall  all  likewise^  perish"  [Luke  xiii.  5].  "  If  ye  believe 
not  that  I  am  he,  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins"  [John  viii.  24]. 
"  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye 
have  love  one  to  another"  [John  xiii.  35].  "If  thou  wilt 
enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments"  [Matt.  xix.  17]. 
"If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them"  [John 
xiii.  17].  Plain  declarations  these,  which  demonstrate,  that 
under  the  Christian  dispensation,  as  under  the  Jewish — under 
the  gospel  as  under  the  law, — the  mercies  offered,  as  to  the 
final  enjoyment  of  them,  are  conditional.  The  passages  I  have 
cited  also  state  very  clearly  what  the  conditions  are, — that  they 
are,  especially,  repentance, — faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — 
love  or  charity, — and  the  life  of  love  or  charity,  or  good  works. 


390 


LECTURE  XX'tll. 


Plain  enough  then  it  appears  to  be,  if  we  take  our  conceptions 
of  religion  from  the  Scriptures,  and  from  the  most  explicit  de- 
clarations of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  salvation  is  proposed  to 
us  in  the  gospel  on  certain  terms  or  conditions  ;  and  plain  enough 
also  it  is,  as  just  remarked,  what  the  terms  and  conditions  are, 
— that  they  are  repentance,  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  charity 
and  good  works. 

II.  We  will  make  a  few  observations  upon  each  of  these  sub- 
jects. 

'  1.  The  first,  then,  of  the  leading  graces  which  exhibit  themselves 
in  the  mind  of  man,  in  his  progress  from  a  merely  carnal  state  to  a 
spiritual  one,  or  from  a  state  of  nature  to  a  state  of  grace,  is,  un- 
questionably, that  of  repentance : — or  repentance  is  that  condition 
of  the  acceptance  of  man  with  God  which  is  first  to  be  complied 
with.  As  the  foundation  fur  every  thing  else,  we  find  repentance 
continually  mentioned.  Thus,  in  the  first  place,  in  which  the 
preaching  under  the  gospel  dispensation  is  spoken  of  (in  Matt, 
iii.)  we  find  no  mention  of  any  condition  for  becoming  a  subject 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  but  repentance  :  and  this,  by  a  beauti- 
ful figure,  is  proclaimed  by  John,  the  forerunner  of  Jesus  as  the 
necessary  pre-requisite  to  the  acknowledgement  and  acceptance 
of  the  Saviour — thus  as  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  the  re- 
ception of  faith  in  him.  "  In  those  days  came  John  the  Baptist, 
preaching  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  and  saying,  Repent  ye — 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  We  also  find  (in  the 
next  chapter),  that,  in  the  beginning,  the  preaching  of  Jesus  con- 
sisted in  precisely  the  same  exhortation  :  As  soon  as  his  tempta- 
tion was  ended,  the  evangelist  informs  us,  that  "  from  that  time 
began  Jesus  to  preach,  and  to  say,  Repent :  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand"  [Matt.  iv.  17].  The  same  was  the  burthen  of 
the  preaching  of  the  twelve  apostles,  when  first  they  were  sent 
forth  by  their  Divine  Master  :  After  he  had  given  them  their 
instructions,  it  is  said,  as  Mark  relates  the  history,  that  "  they 
went  out,  and  preached  every  where  that  men  should  repent" 
[Mark  vi.  12].  So  in  his  final  instructions  to  them  after  his 
resurrection,  as  given  in  Luke,  he  taught  them,  "  that  repent- 
ance and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  his  name 
among  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem"  [Luke  xxiv.  47]. 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES,  &C  391 

And  the  Apostles  inform  us  themselves,  that  they  were  obedient 
to  this  mandate.  Peter  concludes  his  first  sermon  with  saying, 
"Repent,  and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins"  [Acts  ii.  38].  Near  the 
conclusion  of  his  second  sermon  he  exclaims,  "Repent  ye,  there- 
fore, and  be  converted,  that  your  sins  may  be  blotted  out"  [Acts 
iii.  19].  So  Paul,  when  preaching  at  Athens,  after  noticing  the 
then  general  prevalence  of  idolatry,  says,  "And  the  times  of  this 
ignorance,  God  winked  at :  but  now  he  commandeth  all  men 
everywhere  to  repent"  [Acts  xvii.  30].  And  when,  taking  leave 
of  the  Ephesian  elders,  he  reminds  them  of  what  had  composed 
the  substance  of  his  preaching  while  among  them,  he  says,  "Ye 
know — how  I  kept  back  nothing  that  was  profitable  for  you,  but 
have  showed  you,  and  taught  you  publicly,  and  from  house  to 
house," — What  did  he  thus  so  diligently  show  and  teach? — he 
continues, — "testifying  both  to  the  Jews,  and  also  to  the  Greeks, 
repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ"  [Acts  xx.  18 — 20]. 

From  this  evidence,  and  much  more  that  might  be  adduced,  it 
appears  abundantly  clear,  that  Repentance  is  the  first  thing  that 
follows  the  reception  by  man  of  the  divine  grace  which  the  Lord 
is  ever  waiting  to  bestow.  In  point  of  time,  it  precedes  every- 
thing else  that  truly  constitutes  the  church  in  the  human  mind : 
for  though  the  mind  must  previously  have  been  prepared  by  in- 
struction, and  by  divine  influences,  to  set  about  the  work  of 
repentance,  yet  nothing  that  man  has  received,  until  this  work  is 
begun,  has  introduced  him  really,  and  as  to  his  spirit,  into  the 
church,  or  has  given  the  graces  of  the  church  a  real  admission 
into  his  mind.  Till  he  has  begun  the  work  of  repentance,  the 
knowledge  that  he  may  have  obtained  respecting  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  does  not  amount  to  anything  that  can  properly  be 
called  faith.  As  is  affirmed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church, 
repentance  is  the  very  beginning,  and  first  foundation,  of  the 
church  in  man ;  or  of  all  the  heavenly  graces  with  which  the 
mind  of  the  real  member  of  the  church  should  be  replenished. 
It  is  the  very  first  step  towards  man's  acceptance  with  God. 
However  cultivated  and  accomplished  his  mind  may  be, — even 
supposing  it  replenished  with  the  most  extensive  knowledge  re- 


392 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


specting  divine  and  heavenly  things ;  if  repentance  have  not 
begun  to  operate  in  a  man,  he  is  as  yet  an  utter  alien  to  God 
and  his  kingdom.  It  is  not  the  only  thing  necessary  to  his  ac- 
ceptance with  God  and  establishment  in  his  kingdom,  but  it  is 
the  first.  Faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  must  follow,  with 
other  heavenly  graces  :  but  if  repentance  have  not  gone  before 
to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  and  to  make  his  paths  straight, 
— that  is,  to  open  the  door  for  the  reception  of  the  Lord  and  of 
saving  faith  in  him,  these  can  never  enter.  Therefore  it  was 
that  John  the  Baptist, — the  great  preacher  of  repentance, — 
came  as  the  forerunner  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Repentance  then  being  a  thing  so  indispensable  to  man's  ac- 
ceptance with  God,  wherein  does  it  consist?  Here,  I  am  aware, 
though  the  matter  is  quite  plain  on  a  little  reflection,  and  on  con- 
sidering what  is  said  of  repentance  in  the  Word  of  God,  many 
are  apt  to  entertain  defective  notions.  Repentance  is  generally 
defined  to  be  a  sorrow  for  sin.  Doubtless,  without  sorrow  for 
sin  there  can  be  no  real  repentance :  yet  it  is  a  great  mistake  to 
suppose  that  Repentance  actually  consists  in  this  sorrow.  A 
man  may  even  be  sorry  for  his  sins,  without  ever  repenting  of 
them  at  all :  that  is,  he  may  regret  his  sinful  acts,  and  yet  cherish 
the  love  of  the  evils  from  which  the  acts  proceed.  A  criminal 
who  has  run  through  a  career  of  the  deepest  enormity,  when 
brought  to  justice,  will  feel  sorry  for  the  acts  which  have  brought 
him  into  such  a  situation,  and  wish  he  had  never  committed 
them  :  but  a  man  can  know  little  of  the  human  heart  who  sup- 
poses, that  he  at  once  loses  his  love  of  the  vices  which  have  led 
to  such  fatal  results  :  set  him  at  liberty,  and  remove  the  dread 
of  death  or  suffering  for  a  while  from  his  thoughts,  and  in  ninety- 
nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  he  will  return  with  renewed  zest  to 
his  former  criminal  habits.  What  is  found  to  be  the  conduct  of 
the  great  majority  of  those,  who  after  having  had  the  halter 
round  their  necks,  and  having  made  the  most  solemn  promises 
of  amendment  in  case  of  their  life  being  spared,  have  been  trans- 
ported to  New  South  Wales  ?  The  accounts  from  that  colony 
have  informed  us,  that  they  seldom  are  reclaimed  ;  but  that,  with 
few  exceptions,  they  pursue  there  the  same  course  of  life,  as  had 
been  made,  by  habit,  their  second  nature  here. 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES,  &C.  493 

Although  then  a  real  sorrow  must  attend  a  repentance  from 
evil  courses,  it  is  injurious  so  to  represent  sorrow  for  sin  as 
constituting  an  essential  part  of  repentance,  as  to  lead  the  un- 
informed to  mistake  it  for  the  whole  :  for  on  this  subject,  self- 
deceit  is  so  very  easy  ;  and  a  man  may  so  easily  mistake  a  dread 
of  the  painful  consequences  of  sin,  for  a  sorrow  for  sin  itself. 
So  far  is  mere  contrition  from  constituting  the  whole,  or  the 
most  essential  part,  of  repentance,  that  in  the  word  by  which 
repentance  is  expressed  in  the  original  of  the  New  Testament, 
the  idea  of  contrition  is  absolutely  not  included.  It  has  been  from 
drawing  the  ideas  of  spiritual  subjects,  as  was  done  entirely  by 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  merely  from  the  ancient  Latin  ver- 
sion of  the  Scriptures  called  the  Vulgate,  that  the  idea  of  pain 
and  contrition  came  to  be  considered  as  so  important  a  part  of 
the  doctrine  of  Repentance  :  and  the  ideas  thus  introduced  by  the 
Roman  Catholics  have  continued  to  influence  us,  though  we  have 
abandoned  the  peculiar  tenets  of  their  religion.  The  word  that 
signifies  to  repent,  in  the  Latin  language,  literally  means,  It  pains 
me,  or,  It  gives  me  pain:  but  the  Greek  root  that  signifies  pain 
does  not  enter  into  the  composition  of  the  word  which,  in  the 
New  Testament,  is  used  to  express  repenting,  at  all.  The  word 
is  a  compound  one,  derived  from  that  which  signifies  the  mind, 
and  the  preposition  that  signifies  after,  and  which  in  compo- 
sition expresses  change:  Thus  the  word  may  either  be  considered 
as  signifying,  to  come  into  a  state  of  sound  mind,  after  having 
been  in  a  different  state, — or,  to  experience  a  change  in  the 
state  of  the  mind.  Consequently,  it  denotes  very  nearly  the 
same  thing,  as  is  expressed  in  the  Scriptural  idea  of  the  word 
"conversion," — the  turning  of  the  mind  in  a  different  direction 
from  that  in  which  it  was  turned  before.  Now,  no  doubt,  this 
will  always  be  attended  with  contrition  in  those  who  undergo  it, 
and  in  proportion  to  the  extent  in  which  they  may  previously 
have  fallen  into  the  practice  of  actual  evil ;  but  this  explanation 
shows  clearly  that  contrition  is  not  at  all  of  the  essence  of 
Repentance,  which  properly  consists  in  a  return  to  a  sound  state 
of  mind — in  changing  the  mind  in  a  new  direction,  turning  it 
from  evil  to  good,  and  from  a  preference  to  false  notions  of  spi- 
ritual things  to  a  love  of  the  pure  truth. 


394 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


But  perhaps,  some  may  think,  that  whatever  may  be  the  case 
with  others,  they  themselves,  not  having  fallen  into  the  practice  of 
any  very  flagitious  evils,  have  no  need  of  repentance  :  or  if  there 
are  few  whose  minds  are  so  blinded  by  self-love  as  to  form  this 
opinion  in  regard  to  themselves,  yet  they  may  think  it  possible 
that  a  child  of  good  natural  dispositions  may  be  so  carefully 
brought  up,  by  being  kept  from  bad  company  and  nurtured  by 
good  precept  and  example,  as  that  nothing  amounting  to  repen- 
tance may  ever  be  necessary  for  his  eternal  welfare.  If  repen- 
tance consisted  merely  in  contrition,  it  is  possible,  and  but 
barely  possible,  that  this  might  be  the  case:  but  it  is  a  most 
decided  fact,  that  such  a  change  of  mind  as  true  repentance 
implies,  from  a  natural  and  carnal  state  towards  a  spiritual  and 
heavenly  one,  must  take  place  with  every  human  being  before  he 
can  be  prepared  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  although,  in 
some,  this  may  be  effected  more  imperceptibly  than  in  others. 
For  it  is  a  certain  fact  that  every  one  has  tendencies  to  evil,  and 
those  of  the  deepest  malignity,  inherent  in  his  nature,  whether  he 
be  altogether  aware  of  this  or  not ;  and  if  ever  he  enters  heaven, 
these  must  previously  be  subdued  and  removed.  To  this  end, 
then,  in  those  who  are  prepared  for  that  kingdom,  though  there  is 
no  necessity  that  they  should  fall  into  the  practice  of  great  evils, 
as  some  have  affirmed,  to  make  them  the  more  sensible  of  their 
own  inherent  unworthiness,  yet  temptations  are  sure  to  come  upon 
them  to  awaken  their  consciousness  that  they  have  such  pro- 
pensities within  them:  and  then  they  exercise  the  work  of  re- 
pentance,— a  change  is  effected  in  the  state  of  their  minds, — by 
turning  from  the  evil  that  they  feel  or  discover,  resisting  the 
temptation  to  practise  it,  and  looking  to  the  Lord  to  be  endowed 
with  the  opposite  good. 

2.  When  man  is  sincere  in  performing  the  work  of  re- 
pentance, or  in  turning  from  his  evil  ways,  he  will  be  enabled 
to  exercise  a  real  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  his  sal- 
vation. This  will  introduce  into  his  mind  the  still  higher  grace 
of  Christian  charity  ;  and  both,  in  union,  will  become  operative 
in  good  works.  But  having  dwelt  so  long  upon  the  doctrine  of 
repentance,  I  must  only  touch  very  briefly  at  present  upon  these 
other  conditions  of  salvation.  We  shall  speak  of  them  further  in 
subsequent  Lectures. 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE   MERCIES,  &C.  395 

It  is  certainly  not  without  reason  that  the  teachers  of  Chris- 
tianity have  been  urgent  in  insisting  upon  the  principle  of  faith 
as  one  of  its  most  essential  graces,  and  most  indispensable  re- 
quisites ^  although,  when,  in  modern  times,  some  have  stretched 
this  truth  beyond  its  proper  limits,  affirming,  not  only  that  faith 
is  indispensable,  but  that  it  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  constitute  a 
Christian  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  faith  alone  is  all  that  is  neces- 
sary to  salvation  ;  they  have  established  a  maxim  which  is  incon- 
sistent with  all  Divine  truth ;  and  while  they  thought  they  were 
exalting  and  honoring  the  principle  of  faith,  they  have  changed  its 
nature,  and  in  effect  destroyed  it.  The  principle  of  faith,  is  of 
great  moment  in  forming  the  mind  to  the  feelings  and  sentiments 
of  the  true  Christian,  but  the  principle  of  charity  is  of  still  greater. 
This  is  the  Doctrine  of  the  Apostle  Paul :  he  says,  "  Though  I 
have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  nothing  ;"  after  which  he  adds,  "  and  now  abide 
faith,  hope,  and  charity,  these  three  ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is 
charity"  [1  Cor.  xiii.  2,  13]. 

But  though  the  position  that  faith  alone  constitutes  the  whole 
of  saving  religion  is  so  little  consistent  with  Scripture,  and  is  also 
so  opposed  to  every  suggestion  of  reason,  that  one  might  wonder 
how  the  human  mind  could  ever  conceive  and  publish  such  an 
idea ;  and  although  it  is  most  evident  that  charity  also  must  be 
an  indispensable  requisite  to  salvation  ;  there  seems  to  be  more 
room  to  doubt  which  of  the  two  is  of  the  more  importance  ;  or, 
had  not  the  Apostle,  as  just  quoted,  decided  the  question,  which 
of  the  two  is  the  greater.  Certain  it  is  that  great  stress  is  laid 
upon  faith  both  by  the  Lord  himself  and  his  apostle.  The  Lord 
continually  urges  the  necessity  of  faith  in  himself  as  a  qualifica- 
tion for  receiving  any  gift  or  favor  from  him  :  and  Paul  declares 
that  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God.  In  some 
places,  also,  he  speaks  of  our  being  justified  by  faith  ;  but  it  is 
certain,  that,  in  such  passages,  as  is  acknowledged  by  Bishop 
Burnet  [on  the  Thirty-nine  Articles].,  he  does  not  mean  the 
principle  or  grace  of  faith  as  distinguished  from  other  Christian 
graces,  but  the  Christian  religion  or  dispensation  in  general, 
with  all  the  spiritual  graces  belonging  to  it ;  wherefore  he  then 
contrasts  it  with  the  law,  and  the  works  of  the  law  ;  because  by 


396 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


the  law  he  means  the  Jewish  dispensation  in  general,  and  by  its 
works  the  carnal  observances  in  which  the  greater  part  of  that 
dispensation  consisted,  with  the  merely  superficial  obedience  to 
the  moral  law  which  was  all  that  that  dispensation  gave  power 
to  render.  Yet  this  remarkable  distinction  is  to  be  observed  : 
that  though  the  Lord  always  speaks  of  faith  as  necessary  to  the 
obtaining  of  gifts  from  him,  he  always  speaks  of  charity  and  its 
duties  as  the  means  of  obtaining  final  acceptance  with  him. 
When  asked  what  should  be  done  to  inherit  eternal  life,  he  re- 
plied, "  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments" 
[Matt.  xix.  16, 17].  So  we  see  that  Paul,  when  he  is  not  speaking 
of  the  Christian  religion  in  general  by  the  name  of  faith,  but  of 
the  specific  grace  so  termed,  affirms,  most  decidedly,  the  pre- 
eminence of  charity. 

From  these  facts  this  conclusion  results  :  That  faith  is  neces- 
sary as  the  means  of  obtaining  from  the  Lord  that  purification  of 
the  heart  and  life  of  which  the  cures  that  he  wrought  upon  those 
who  believed  in  his  power  were  types  ;  and  also,  as  affording  the 
light  necessary  for  pointing  out  how  the  higher  principle  of 
charity  should  go  forth  into  exercise  :  but  that  charity  in  the 
heart  is  the  principle  at  which  the  Lord  looks  when  he  decides 
upon  man's  final  state.  Thus  faith  is,  in  fact,  the  medium  by 
which  charity  is  acquired  :  it  leads  to  it,  as  the  means  to  the  end. 
Faith  is  first  in  point  of  time  ;  but  charity  is  first  in  point  of 
dignity.  Where  both  exist,  they  will  manifest  themselves  in  the 
fife  of  charity,  or  good  works  ;  which  thus  are  the  criterion  of 
their  actual  existence  in  the  mind. 

3.  That  the  grace  of  good  works,  flowing  from  an  inward  prin- 
ciple of  love,  is  peculiarly  regarded  by  the  Lord,  is  evident  from 
this  remarkable  fact :  that  he  never  mentions  anything  else  when 
the  determination  of  man's  eternal  state,  his  final  judgment,  is 
treated  of.  It  is  by  the  presence  of  this  principle  that  man  is 
elevated  to  heaven,  by  its  absence  that  he  is  rejected  to  hell. 
Though  faith  is  made  by  the  Lord  an  indispensable  requisite  to 
the  reception  of  divine  gifts  from  him,  yet,  necessary  as  it  is,  it  is 
never  once  mentioned  when  the  decision  of  man's  eternal  estate  is 
described  ;  nor  is  even  charity  expressly  adverted  to,  any  otherwise 
than  as  it  is  necessarily  included  in  its  inseparable  concomitants, 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES,  &C.  397 


the  works  of  charity  or  practical  goodness.  How  impressive  is 
that  striking  description  which  the  Lord  gives  of  the  safety  of  the 
wise  man  who  doeth  his  commandments,  and  of  the  ruin  of  the 
fool  who  neglects  them  !  "Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of 
mine,  and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  to  a  wise  man  which" 
built  his  house  upon  a  rock :  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the 
floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house  :  and 
it  fell  not,  because  it  was  founded  upon  a  rock.  And  every  one 
that  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be 
likened  to  a  foolish  man  that  built  his  house  upon  the  sand  :  and 
the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew, 
and  beat  upon  that  house  ;  and  it  fell :  and  great  was  the  fall  of 
it"  [Matt.  vii.  24 — 27].  It  is  doing,  then,  or  not  doing,  on 
which  man's  final  state  depends.  But  how  inexpressibly  affect- 
ing is  the  Lord's  most  fully  detailed  description  of  the  final 
judgment,  when  the  acceptance  of  the  sheep  and  rejection  of  the 
goats  is  so  pathetically  shown  to  depend  on  their  having  prac- 
tised, or  neglected,  the  works  of  charity. — "Then  shall  the  king 
say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand,  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father, 
inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  For  I  was  a  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat :  I  was 
thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink  :  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me 
in  ;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  :  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me  : 
I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me.  Then," — with  that  un- 
consciousness of  anything  like  merit  in  themselves, — that  hu- 
mility which  ever  accompanies  true  charity, — "then  shall  the 
righteous  answer  him,  saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  hungry, 
and  fed  thee?  or  thirsty,  and  gave  thee  drink?  When  saw  we 
thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in?  or  naked,  and  clothed  thee? 
Or  when  saw  we  thee  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  came  unto  thee? 
And," — imputing  to  them, — such  is  the  Divine  mercy  of  the 
Lord,  and  such  the  true  doctrine  of  imputation, — the  good 
which  they  had  done  from  him, — "the  king  shall  answer  and 
say  unto  them,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me.  Then  shall  he  say  also  unto  them  on  his  left 
hand,  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels.    For  I  was  a  hungered,  and  ye 


398 


LECTURE  XXIII. 


gave  me  no  meat :  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  no  drink :  I 
was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  not  in ;  naked,  and  ye  clothed 
me  not ;  sick,  and  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  me  not.  Then  shall 
they  also  answer  him," — with  the  self-sufficiency,  and  unwilling- 
ness to  acknowledge  any  deficiency  in  themselves,  which  how- 
ever they  may  disclaim  it,  inwardly  belongs  to  those,  who, 
without  charity,  are  in  the  persuasion  that  they  shall  be  saved  by 
faith  alone, — "Then  shall  they  also  answer  him,  saying,  Lord, 
when  saw  we  thee  a  hungered,  or  athirst,  or  a  stranger,  or  naked, 
or  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  did  not  minister  unto  thee  ?  Then  shall 
he  answer  them,  saying,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it  not  to  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me."  The 
awful  conclusion  follows  :  "  And  these  shall  go  away  into  ever- 
lasting punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  fife  eternal"  [Matt, 
xxv.  34 — 46].  Now,  though  the  works  here  mentioned  as  being 
done  by  the  one  class,  and  neglected  by  the  other,  must,  in  their 
spiritual  sense,  involve  more  than  is  presented  in  the  letter, — 
works  more  general  and  universal  in  their  application, — yet  this 
is  perfectly  evident :  That  the  works  of  charity,  in  their  most 
extensive  acceptation,  are  what  are  intended  :  and  it  certainly  is 
quite  impossible,  by  any  ingenuity  of  explanation,  to  do  away 
with  this  plain  declaration  of  what  are  the  real  terms  of  accep- 
tance with  God.  Those  terms  indisputably  are,  good  works, — 
not  works  which  may  appear  as  good  upon  a  superficial  in- 
spection, but  those  which  are  recognised  as  such  by  the  exploring 
eye  of  an  All-seeing  Judge  :  and  these  are  such  words  and 
actions  only  as  flow  from  a  principle  of  genuine  charity,  which 
is  charity  united  with  faith,  and  consequent  upon  repentance 
from  evil  works, — a  constant  determination  to  a  good  and  useful 
life,  and  to  the  performance  of  deeds  of  real  beneficence,  spring- 
ing from  pure  benevolence,  the  love  of  the  Lord  and  our  neigh- 
bour, enlightened  and  guided  by  faith  in  his  holy  name. 

Such  then,  my  friends  and  brethren,  is  the  way  of  salvation 
which  the  Lord  has  set  before  us,  and  such  the  manner  in  which 
we  are  to  profit  by  the  Lord's  great  works  for  us,  and  mercies 
towards  us,  in  our  redemption  :  we  are  to  accent  eternal  life  upon 
the  conditions  on  which  He  offers  it,  which  are,  by  doing  the 
work  of  repentance,  and  by  cultivating  the  graces  of  faith  and 


HOW  MAN  IS  TO  PROFIT  BY  THE  DIVINE  MERCIES,  &C.  399 

charity,  and  the  practice  of  good  works.  He  that  doeth  these 
things  shall  never  be  moved.  His  salvation  is  sure :  and  still 
all  the  merit  of  it  belongs  to  the  Lord,  from  whom  all  the  will 
and  all  the  ability  proceed,  and  whose  Holy  Spirit  operates, 
with  those  who  look  to  Him,  with  sufficient  energy  to  produce 
them,  in  consequence  of  his  having  united  Humanity  to  Divinity 
in  his  glorious  Person. 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


CHARITY,  AND    NOT    FAITH,    THE    FIRST    ESSENTIAL    OF  PURE 
CHRISTIANITY. 


John  xv.  12 — 14. 
"  This  is  my  commandment,  that  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved 
you.    Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down 
his  life  for  his  friends.    Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I 
command  you" 

If  the  professed  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  always 
taken  their  doctrines  from  the  express  declarations  of  their  Di- 
vine Master  himself,  how  different  an  aspect  would  the  Christian 
Religion  have  assumed  and  maintained,  from  that  which,  during 
a  long  period,  it  has  borne  among  mankind  !  Instead  of  this, 
however, — instead  of  drawing  their  religious  sentiments  from  the 
immediate  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself, — they  have 
for  the  most  part,  preferred  to  take  them  from  one  or  two  sen- 
tences in  the  writings  of  one  of  his  apostles  ; — for  it  is  only  in 
one  or  two  sentences  in  the  writings  of  one  of  the  apostles  that 
any  colour  can  be  found  for  that  doctrine,  which,  according  to 
the  representation  of  the  celebrated  but  sometimes  mistaken 
reformer  Luther,  still  frequently  re-echoed  by  teachers  of  the 
present  day,  forms  the  distinguishing  criterion  of  a  standing  or  a 
falling  church — the  doctrine  of  justification  and  salvation  by 
faith  alone.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  language  of  this  Apostle, 
correctly  interpreted,  and  as  understood  by  himself,  is  and  must 
be,  as  we  shall,  see  in  the  sequel,  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
instructions  of  his  Divine  Master  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ : — and 
far  be  it  from  me  to  say,  that  erroneous  doctrines, — such  as  are 
inconsistent  with  the  teaching  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself, 


CHARITY  GREATER  THAN  FAITH.  401 

find  any  real  sanction  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostle  of  whom  we 
are  speaking :  But  that  Apostle,  in  the  warmth  of  his  contro- 
versies with  Jews  and  Judaizing  teachers  of  Christianity,  which 
form  so  great  a  portion  of  his  writings,  has,  in  a  few  instances, 
dropt  expressions,  which,  taken  hy  themselves,  might  be  supposed 
to  favour  the  notion  of  faith  as  the  only  requisite  to  salvation. 
Upon  these  have  framers  of  doctrinal  systems  eagerly  seized, 
and,  without  regard  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  under  which 
the  writings  of  the  Apostles  were  penned,  or  understanding  the 
peculiar  notions  against  which  they  were  directed,  have  put  upon 
certain  phrases  their  own  construction  :  and  on  this  sandy  foun- 
dation have  they  erected  a  system  of  doctrine,  as  unlike  the 
doctrines  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  and  of  all  the  other 
Apostles,  as  are  the  shapeless  carvings  of  the  South-Sea  Islanders 
to  the  beauteous  sculptures  of  classic  Greece.  This  they  have 
done,  I  say,  although  nothing  similar  is  to  be  found  in  the 
writings  of  any  of  the  other  Apostles,  or  in  the  living  instruc- 
tions of  their  Divine  Master.  Of  the  four  other  apostolic  writers 
whose  epistles  remain,  John  and  Jude  contain  nothing  which 
can,  by  any  violence,  be  construed  into  an  approbation  of  the 
doctrine  of  faith  alone,  but  much  that  is  directly  opposed  to  it ; 
Peter  expressly  warns  his  readers  of  things  in  the  writings  of 
Paul  which  are  hard  to  be  understood,  and  which  they  that  are 
unlearned  may  easily  wrest  to  their  own  destruction  ;  and  James 
would  appear  to  have  written  purposely  to  contradict  the  notion 
of  salvation  by  faith  without  works,  and  as  if  he  had  the  un- 
guarded expressions  of  Paul  immediately  in  his  eye.  Commen- 
tators, indeed,  usually  take  great  pains  to  warn  the  reader  against 
this  supposition  ;  but  they  have  no  data  on  which  to  found  its 
refutation.  Strange,  then,  indeed,  does  it  appear,  that  when 
none  of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  but  one,  lend  the 
smallest  apparent  countenance  to  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  alone,  and  that  one  only  in  a  few  expressions,  which,  if  so 
understood,  would  contradict  all  the  rest  of  his  writings,  those 
few  expressions  should  have  been  laid  hold  of  to  found  upon 
them  such  a  doctrine  !  But  doubtless,  in  this  mystery,  a  secret 
cause  has  been  in  operation,  and  there  has  been  exerted  the 
permissive  hand  of  the  Lord's  Divine  Providence.  Men  are 
26 


402 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


always  led  to  accommodate  their  doctrines  in  regard  to  faith  to 
their  state  in  regard  to  charity ;  hence,  when  charity  decays,  the 
Church  is  irresistibly  inclined  to  adopt  for  its  creed  the  notion 
of  the  all-sufficiency  of  faith.  Now  the  Lord  predicted  that  this 
would  come  to  be  the  state  of  the  Christian  Church  itself: — 
"  Because,"  he  says,  "  iniquity  will  abound,  the  love  of  many 
will  wax  cold"  [Matt.  xxiv.  12].  When  charity  expires,  faith  be- 
comes perverted,  or  a  genuine  faith  exists  no  more  ;  whence  the 
Lord,  again  alluding  to  the  same  times,  says,  "  When  the  Son  of 
man  cometh,  shall  he  find  faith  in  the  earth?"  [Luke  xviii.  8]. 
When  a  true  faith  becomes  extinct,  a  false  one  takes  its  place. 
When  charity  dies,  men  persuade  themselves  that  there  is  no 
occasion  for  it,  but  that  faith  alone,  such  perverted  faith  as  then" 
prevails — is  sufficient  for  all  purposes  ;  and  thus  orignates  the 
mistaken  sentiment  of  justification  by  faith  alone.  As  then,  to 
establish  such  a  faith,  they  would  pervert  and  profane  the  essen- 
tial Word  of  God  itself, — even  the  words  which  the  Living  Word 
— the  Word  Incarnate — spoke  while  on  earth, — to  prevent  this 
it  was  permitted  that  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  which  are  common- 
ly though  mistakenly  regarded  as  equally  divine,  such  phrase- 
ology should  be  introduced  as  might  more  easily  be  applied  in 
confirmation  of  such  perverted  faith  ;  and  thus  the  framers  of  er- 
roneous systems  fastened  upon  these  writings,  directed  thither 
all  their  eagerness  of  attention,  and  sought  thence  the  confirma- 
tions of  their  darling  persuasions  ;  thus  leaving,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, the  very  Word  of  God  unfalsified  and  untouched,  and  not 
incurring  such  guilt  as  would  have  resulted  from  applying,  more 
actively  and  directly,  those  lively  oracles  themselves  in  support 
of  such  injurious  inventions.  Thus  viewed,  what  mercy  and 
goodness  is  seen  in  the  permission,  that  passages  so  easily  abused 
should  have  dropped  from  the  pen  of  the  Apostle  Paul ;  affording 
the  means  to  the  framers  of  false  doctrines  of  doing  that  in  a  man- 
ner comparatively  innocent,  which  they  could  not  be  prevented 
from  doing  altogether. 

But  had  not  this  predilection  for  falsity  rather  than  truth 
existed  ;  and  had  the  leaders  of  the  Church,  drawn  their  systems 
of  doctrine  from  the  sayings  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself, 
and  from  those  parts  of  the  apostolic  writings  which  plainly 


CHARITY  GREATER  THAN  FAITH.  403 

deliver  the  same  sentiments  ;  how  beautiful  a  body  of  Christian 
doctrine  should  we  then  have  seen  !  And  if,  as  would  then  also 
have  been  more  the  case,  the  lives  of  the  professing  disciples  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  been  framed  according  to  such  truly 
enlightened  views  of  doctrine,  so  that  their  practice  should  form 
a  living  comment  upon  their  principles,  what  a  glorious  and  truly 
attractive  aspect  would  the  Christian  religion  have  presented 
before  the  world  !  There  would  then  have  been  no  room  to  raise 
a  doubt,  as  some  philosophers  of  high  name  have  done,  whether 
the  establishment  of  the  Christian  religion  has  really  improved  the 
condition  of  society  ;  still  less  would  there  have  been  afforded  the 
slightest  colour  to  the  unjust  reproach  of  infidels,  who,  looking  at 
the  dissensions,  wars,  and  massacres,  which  have  arisen  or  been 
perpetrated  under  the  pretence  of  religion,  have  endeavoured 
to  raise  a  prejudice  against  Christianity  itself,  as  the  source  of 
the  greatest  evils  and  miseries  that  have  ever  torn  to  pieces  the 
communities  of  mankind.  Although  this  is  a  gross  calumny, 
yet  it  is  but  too  true  that  the  conduct  of  the  professors  of 
Christianity,  as  a  body,  has  been  a  practical  comment,  not  upon 
the  genuine  principles  of  Christianity  itself,  but  upon  the  errors 
which  have  been  substituted  in  their  place.  Having  at  an  early 
period  divided  asunder  the  Divine  Being  himself  in  their  ideas 
of  him ;  having,  about  the  same  time,  begun  to  regard  the  pro- 
fession of  a  right  faith  as  of  more  importance  than  a  life  of 
charity ;  and  having  at  length  given  a  positive  form  to  this  prin- 
ciple, by  declaring  salvation  to  depend  upon  faith  alone ;  they, 
as  the  natural  consequence  of  such  principles,  have  been  con- 
tinually disputing  with  one  another  about  doctrinal  questions, 
often  of  the  most  trifling  and  unimportant  nature,  and  have, 
upon  such  grounds,  treated  one  another  with  the  greatest  bitter- 
ness, rancour,  and  cruelty.  Such  are  the  natural  and  necessary 
fruits  of  a  doctrine,  which  places  faith  in  the  first  place  and 
charity  in  the  second, — especially  when  it  goes  so  far  as  to  deny 
to  charity  any  concern  in  man's  salvation.  In  proportion  as 
respect  for  charity,  or  a  sense  of  its  necessity  diminishes,  it 
ceases  to  be  cultivated  and  practised.  Had  however,  as  in  the 
primitive  times,  charity  continued  to  be  regarded,  as  the  Scrip- 
tures most  positively  teach,  as  the  very  first  essential  of  all  re- 


404 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


ligion,  separate  from  which  the  purest  system  of  faith  is  of  no 
avail,  very  different  must  have  been  the  result.  Holding  such 
sentiments  from  the  heart,  men  would  have  cultivated  charity 
with  a  zeal  proportioned  to  their  sense  of  its  importance ;  and, 
where  charity  thus  reigns,  varieties  of  opinion  respecting  points 
of  faith,  instead  of  creating  division  and  enmity,  are  only  like 
the  various  precious  stones  in  a  royal  crown,  contributing,  by  the 
harmonious  splendour  of  their  various  colours,  to  the  beauty  and 
magnificence  of  the  whole.  So,  various  views  of  truth,  as  so 
many  precious  stones,  when  all  set  in  the  pure  gold  of  charity, 
will  not  divide  a  church,  but  add  to  its  universality,  and  thus  to 
its  perfection.  Persons,  also,  thus  principled  in  charity,  are  not 
offended  with  others  for  not  receiving  their  sentiments ;  much 
less  can  they  regard  them  as  enemies,  and  persecute  them,  on 
that  account :  for  they  know  that  every  one  has  a  capacity  for 
perceiving  truth  according  to  the  interior  state  of  his  life  in 
regard  to  charity ;  and  from  charity  in  themselves  they  think 
charitably  of  others.  The  varieties  also  of  opinion  on  doctrinal 
matlers  which  might  exist  in  a  church  where  true  spiritual 
charity  prevails,  would  always  be  confined  to  points  of  minor 
importance,  and  would  not  reach  to  essentials.  All,  for  instance, 
would  then  look  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Source  of  every 
blessing,  and  worship  him  as  God  alone.  •  For  pure  spiritual 
charity  can  come  from  no  other  origin  than  from  the  divine  love 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  coming  from  Him,  it  includes 
in  its  bosom  the  acknowledgment  of  Him.  Charity  from  the 
Lord  in  the  human  soul  is  like  the  magnetic  virtue  imparted  to 
a  piece  of  steel ;  the  faith  imbued  with  it  turns  undeviatingly  to 
Him,  as  the  needle  to  the  pole. 

The  view  thus  presented  of  what  would  be  the  doctrine  and 
life  of  Christians  if  they  took  their  principles  as  to  each  from  the 
instructions  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  is  most  evident 
from  those  words  of  his  which  I  have  read  as  a  text.  These 
words  too,  it  must  be  remembered,  are  not,  like  the  few  passages 
of  Paul  on  which  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  alone  has 
been  constructed,  in  opposition,  when  interpreted  as  teaching 
the  prime  importance  of  charity,  to  the  whole  tenor  of  the 
Lord's  divine  instructions  elsewhere  ;  but  all  those  instructions 


CHARITY  GREATER  THAN  FAITH. 


405 


manifestly  teach  and  confirm  the  same  doctrine.  There  is,  from 
sacred  causes,  or  for  divine  reasons,  a  great  and  manifest  differ- 
ence in  the  style  of  the  four  gospels  which  relate  the  history  of 
the  life  upon  earth  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  his  divine 
discourses,  for  instance,  related  in  Matthew,  are  very  different 
in  their  form  and  general  character  from  those  which  are  given 
in  John  ;  but  in  respect  to  the  main  tenor  and  burden  of  them 
all,  as  inculcating  the  primary  importance  of  charity  and  its 
duties,  there  is  no  difference  whatever.  In  Matthew  we  are 
presented  with  more  parables,  and  the  Lord  appears  to  speak  in 
a  style  more  manifestly  symbolic,  or  in  which  the  meaning  is 
more  veiled  over  by  natural  images  ;  and  in  John  the  pure  truth 
of  the  spiritual  sense  commonly  shines  forth  more  manifestly 
from  the  letter ;  but  from  the  beginning  of  the  Lord's  discourses 
in  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  as  given  in  Matthew,  to  his  dying 
words  on  the  cross,  as  given  in  Luke  and  John,  it  is  impossible 
to  draw  any  other  conclusion  from  anything  said  by  him,  than 
that  the  first  principle  of  his  religion,  that  which,  above  every- 
thing else,  He  requires  of  his  disciples,  is  charity.  It  is  true 
that  he  also  insists  on  the  necessity  of  faith,  or  of  believing  in 
Him,  because,  without  such  belief,  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  pu- 
rification from  evils,  and  thus  to  receive  charity ;  yet  charity  is 
obviously  the  end  to  guide  to  which  faith  is  enjoined,  and  to 
form  which  in  his  disciples  is  the  object  of  all  the  Lord's  divine 
tenderness  and  solicitude. 

This  doctrine — that  charity  or  love  is  the  grand  thing  by 
which  the  Lord's  true  disciples  are  to  be  distinguished, — is  most 
explicitly  advanced  in  our  text  with  its  context.  The  chapter 
commences  with  the  beautiful  parable  of  the  vine  and  its 
branches, — the  vine  symbolizing  the  Lord  himself,  and  the 
branches  his  disciples.  This  parable  he  concludes  with  saying, 
"If  a  man  abide  not  in  me,  he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch,  and  is 
withered ;  and  men  gather  them,  and  cast  them  into  the  fire, 
and  they  are  burned.  [John  xv.  6].  He  pursues  this  idea  of 
the  necessity  of  abiding  in  Him,  by  proceeding  to  show  both  the 
blessings  that  will  attend  it,  and  the  means  of  accomplishing  it. 
"If,"  says  he,  "ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you, 
ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you.  Herein 


406 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


is  my  Father  glorified,  that  ye  bear  much  fruit :  so  shall  ye  be 
my  disciples"  [ver.  7,  8].  It  seems  then,  that  to  be  the 
Lord's  disciples  at  all,  we  must  bear  the  fruit  of  good  works,  or 
of  the  life  of  charity.  He  proceeds  :  "As  the  Father  hath  loved 
me,  so  have  I  loved  you  :  continue  (or  abide,  for  it  is  the  same 
word  in  the  original — abide)  ye  in  my  love"  [Ver.  9].  Here 
we  see,  that  to  abide  in  the  Lord,  as  a  branch  in  the  vine,  is  to 
abide  in  his  love  :  he  proceeds  to  show  how  this  is  to  be  secured  : 
"If  ye  keep  my  commandments,  ye  shall  abide  in  my  love; 
even  as  I  have  kept  my  Father's  commandments,  and  abide  in 
his  love.  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  my  joy 
might  remain  (or  abide — for  it  is  still  the  same  word)  in  you, 
and  that  your  joy  might  be  full"  [Ver.  10,  11].  To  abide 
then  in  the  Lord's  love,  and  thus  to  abide  in  him,  it  is  necessary, 
he  assures  us,  to  keep  his  commandments  :  and  now,  in  our  text, 
he  declares  what  his  commandments  are,  and  condenses  them 
into  one  :  "  This,"  he  says,  "is  my  commandment,  that  ye  love 
one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you"  [Ver.  12].  This  is  what 
his  disciples  are  to  do  in  order  to  abide  in  his  love,  to  be  his 
disciples  indeed,  and  to  abide  in  him  as  branches  in  the  vine. 
This  is  peculiarly,  and  above  every  thing  else,  his  command- 
ment. He  sums  up  the  whole  of  his  precepts  and  requirements 
into  one  injunction,  and  declares  this  to  be  it.  So  in  the  13th 
chapter,  in  the  same  series  of  discourse,  he  had  given  the  same 
precept  with  even,  if  possible,  greater  emphasis  :  "A  new  com- 
mandment I  give  unto  you,  That  ye  love  one  another ;  as  I  have 
loved  you,  that  3re  also  love  one  another  :" — for  here  he  adds  the 
remarkable  words,  "By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another"  [Ver.  34].  This 
then  was  to  be  the  distinguishing  mark  of  a  Christian — not  his 
faith,  but  his  love.  By  this,  according  to  the  intention  and 
decree  of  the  Divine  Founder  of  Christianity,  his  disciples  were 
to  be  known  ;  and  if  this  be  absent,  it  matters  not  how  loudly 
they  may  make  profession  of  their  faith  ;  they  do  not  belong  to 
Him.  According  to  the  Lord's  saying  on  another  occasion, 
"Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not 
prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  devils, 
and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works — (all  marks,  it 


CHARITY  GREATER  THAN  FAITH. 


407 


must  be  admitted,  of  strong  faith :)  and  then  will  I  profess  unto 
them,  I  never  knew  you:  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity" 
[Matt.  vii.  22,  23].  Thus,  both  negatively  and  positively,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  constantly  declares,  that  charity  or  mutual 
love  is  the  primary  characteristic  of  his  religion, — is  that  upon 
which  every  thing  else  depends, — the  principle  by  which  his 
followers  were  to  be  known, — the  one  commandment  in  which 
all  others  are  included.  And  it  is  to  be  observed  that  he  here 
speaks,  not  of  the  commandments  of  the  Mosaic  law,  but  of  his 
commandment — the  main  precept  of  his  gospel.  When  asked 
which  was  the  great  commandment  of  the  law,  he  answered, 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind  :  this  is  the  first  and  great 
commandment."  To  this,  unasked,  he  adds,  "And  the  second 
is  like  unto  it:  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  And 
he  adds  further,  "On  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the 
law  and  the  prophets"  [Matt.  xxii.  38 — 40].  But  this  strong 
evidence,  supported  by  his  added  declaration  to  the  inquirer 
in  Luke,  "This  do,  and  thou  shalt  live"  [Ch.  x.  2S],  is  set 
aside  by  the  strenuous  champions  of  faith  alone,  by  the  asser- 
tion, that  these  commandments  are  only  referred  to  as  the 
commandments  of  the  law,  which  is  superseded  by  the  gospel; 
and  that  although  it  would  be  true  that,  if  we  could  keep  them 
we  should  live,  yet  this  we  are  unable  to  do,  and  therefore 
cannot  have  eternal  life  in  any  such  manner; — thus  representing 
Jesus  as  trifling  with  an  earnest  inquirer  by  using  subterfuge 
and  mental  reservation.  But  suppose  for  a  moment,  it  were  so, 
— suppose,  notwithstanding  his  express  declaration,  that  he 
came  not  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets,  he  really  did 
abolish  by  the  gospel  both  the  ceremonial  and  the  moral  law, 
as  given  by  Moses : — we  see  he  here  re-enacts  its  cardinal  precept 
by  his  own  authority  ;  extending,  indeed,  the  charity,  or  love  of 
the  neighbour,  prescribed  by  Moses,  into  the  higher  principle — 
the  new  commandment  of  mutual  love — of  love  to  one  another, 
to  be  copied,  as  to  its  character,  from  his  love  to  us. 

Seeing  then  that  charity,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  love,  is 
the  first  thing  on  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  insists  as  essential 
to  the  being  a  disciple  of  his,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  form 


408 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


just  conceptions  as  to  what  the  nature  of  this  truly  heavenly- 
grace  is.  And  here  we  cannot  have  a  better  guide  than  that 
Apostle,  who  has  so  strangely  been  supposed  to  resolve  the 
whole  of  the  Christian  religion  into  faith  alone.  According  to 
the  plainest  teaching  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  charity  is  the  grace 
which  imparts  to  all  others  their  genuine  character,  and  destitute 
of  which  no  other  gift  whatsoever  is  of  any  avail  towards  salva- 
tion. "Though,"  says  he,  in  1  Cor.  xiii.,*  "I  speak  with  the 
tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am 
become  but  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal;  and 
though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  mys- 
teries, and  all  knowledge ;  and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that 
I  could  remove  mountains ;  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing" 
[Ver.  1,2].  Here  we  have  the  clearest  declaration  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  charity,  as  consisting  in  a  principle  of  love  in  the  heart, 
to  give  value  to  the  highest  intellectual  attainments,  even 
to  faith  itself.  We  seldom  hear,  in  modern  times,  even  among 
those  who  extol  faith  most  highly,  and  abide  in  it  most  con- 
fidently, of  any  who  pretend  by  means  of  it  to  perform  mira- 
culous works  ;  and  if  any  of  them  could,  by  the  exercise  of  faith, 
do  any  act  beyond  the  ordinary  powers  of  nature,  they  doubtless 
would  boast  of  it  as  a  most  incontrovertible  proof  of  the  efficacy 
for  salvation  of  faith  alone.  Not  so,  however,  the  heaven-taught 
Apostle  ;  he  declares,  we  see,  that  even  such  a  faith  as  would 
remove  mountains,  separate  from  charity,  would  avail  him 
nothing. 

Having  thus  shown  the  worthlessness  of  even  the  most  pow- 
erful faith,  if  unconnected  with  charity,  he  shows,  in  the  same 
manner,  the  worthlessness  of  outward  works,  when  not  per- 
formed under  the  influence  of  this  principle.  For  it  is  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose,  as  many  do,  that  charity  means  mere  alms- 
giving :  charity  is  love  ;  and  the  giving  of  alms,  the  display  of 
zeal,  or  any  other  outwardly  beneficent  act,  when  it  does  not 
proceed  from  a  principle  of  love  in  the  heart,  is  a  mere  outward 
husk,  destitute  of  the  kernel  or  pulp  for  the  sake  of  which 
alone  the  husk  is  esteemed.  Therefore  the  Apostle  proceeds  to 
say,  "And  though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor; 
and  though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned  ;  and  have  not  charity, 


CHARITY  GREATER  THAN  FAITH. 


409 


it  profiteth  me  nothing"  [Ver.  3].  We  may  hence  see  what  the 
Apostle  means  when  he  sometimes  speaks  in  depreciation  of 
what  he  calls  the  works  of  the  law.  By  the  law  he  means  the 
Jewish  dispensation,  which  only  set  temporal  rewards  before  its 
subjects  :  and  works  done  from  obedience  to  a  law  which  merely 
promises  rewards  in  this  life,  only  proceed  from  the  external 
man  and  not  from  the  internal :  the  having  a  view  only  to  pros- 
perity in  the  world  as  an  end,  cannot  purify  the  soul,  and  kindle 
there  the  flame  of  genuine  charity.  The  works,  therefore,  which 
the  Apostle  depreciates  as  unable  to  convey  salvation,  are,  either 
the  ceremonial  observances  of  the  Mosaic  law,  or  such  an  obe- 
dience to  its  moral  precepts  as  only  looks  to  a  selfish  and  worldly 
end.  Hence  he  speaks  of  that  law  as  being  unable  to  purify  the 
internal  man,  "in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh"  [Rom. 
viii.  3]  ;  meaning,  that  all  its  sanctions  were  of  a  carnal  nature, 
looking  only  to  the  flesh  or  body  and  this  world  ;  thus  not  reach- 
ing to  rthe  spirit.  Well,  therefore,  may  he  speak  of  works,  thus 
unconnected  with  a  spiritual  and  internal  principle,  as  being  un- 
able to  secure  man's  salvation  ; — but  never  does  he  thus  speak  of 
charity.  He  says  that  we  are  saved  by  faith  (meaning  thereby 
not  the  single  grace  so  called,  but  the  Christian  Dispensation  in 
general)  without  the  u-orls  of  the  laiv :  but  never  does  he  say  that 
we  are  saved  by  faith  without  charity.  On  the  contrary,  like  his 
Divine  Master,  he  regards  charity  as  including  every  other  ex- 
cellence. "  Charity,"  he  goes  on,  "  sufFereth  long,  and  is  kind  : 
charity  envieth  not :  charity  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up, 
doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not 
easily  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil :  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but 
rejoiceth  in  the  truth  :  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 
hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things"  [Ver.  4 — 7].  Here  is  a 
beautiful  assemblage  of  excellencies  inherent  in  charity,  and 
which  must  all  concur  in  order  that  the  grace  may  be  genuine  ! 
How  exquisite  are  the  touches  by  which  it  is  painted  ! 

"  Charity  sufFereth  long,  and  is  kind  :" — here  is  a  feature  by 
which  the  heavenly  visitor  may  at  once  be  known.  One  of  the. 
great  distinguishing  characteristics  by  which  the  love  of  the 
Lord  is  painted  to  us  in  Holy  Writ,  is,  by  its  being  long-suffer- 
ing :  such  almost  must  be  a  necessary  mark  of  that  charity  which 


410 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


originates  in,  and  thence  is  imitative  of,  the  Lord's  Divine  Love. 
When,  therefore,  we  feel  that  we  are  quick  to  take  offence,  or  that 
we  are  unable  to  bear  with  the  faults  and  infirmities  of  others, — 
that  an  intemperate  word  addressed  to  us  kindles  the  flame  of 
anger  in  our  breasts,  and  that  every  slight  or  injustice  that  we 
may  experience  prompts  us  to  repay  in  the  same  coin,  and,  as  is 
too  commonly  the  case,  to  visit  the  offence  with  interest  upon  the 
head  of  the  offender  ; — alas  !  how  far  must  we  remain  from  being 
the  subjects  of  that  charity  which  suffereth  long  and  is  kind,  and 
without  which  we  cannot  be  in  reality  the  Lord's  disciples  ! 

Charity,  also,  "  envieth  not,  vaun4eth  not  itself,  and  is  not, 
puffed  up  :" — how  little  then  are  we  under  its  sacred  influence, 
when  we  grudge  prosperity  to  others,  and,  swelling  with  an  im- 
agined sense  of  our  own  dignity  and  consequence,  are  displeased 
at  not  meeting  with  the  homage  or  subserviency  which  we  think 
is  our  due  !  Charity,  even,  "  seeketh  not  her  own" — does  not 
pertinaciously  exact  what  may  justly  be  laid  claim  to  :  much  less 
can  it  be  offended  at  not  receiving  that  to  which  it  is  not  entitled. 
Charity  "  thinketh  no  evil," — is  never  engaged  in  devising  injury 
to  others  :  it  "  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity," — neither  taking  delight 
in  anything  wicked  itself,  nor  in  hearing  of,  or  spreading  abroad, 
the  vices  of  others  :  but  "  it  rejoiceth  in  the  truth."  It  "  beareth 
all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all 
things  ;"  by  which  is  not  meant  that  it  believeth  all  things, 
whether  true  or  false,  probable  or  improbable,  and  hopeth  all 
things,  whether  possible  or  impossible  :  but  this  is  an  idiomatic 
mode  of  expression,  denoting  that  charity  includes  in  itself  all 
faith,  all  hope,  and  all  patience  ;  since,  where  charity  lives  in  the 
heart,  the  mind  assents  by  an  inward  dictate  to  all  that  faith 
teaches,  and  to  all  that  hope  or  spiritual  confidence  promises  : 
and  is  prepared  to  suffer  all  things  which  the  hand  of  a  merciful 
Father  may  permit  to  befall  it. 

This  is  but  a  slight  sketch  of  some  of  the  excellencies  of  the 
grace  of  charity,  as  here  delineated  by  the  Apostle  Paul :  well 
therefore  may  he  conclude  his  eulogium  by  the  declaration,  "And 
now  abide  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  these  three  :  but  the  greatest 
of  these  is  charity"  [Ver.  13].  How  strangely  is  the  Apostle 
made  to  contradict  himself,  when,  in  the  face  of  this  declaration, 


CHARITY  GREATER   THAN  FAITH. 


411 


it  is  imagined  that  he  teaches  the  doctrine  of  justification  by- 
faith  alone  !  He  expressly  declares,  that  of  the  three  essential 
Christian  graces  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  charity  is  the  great- 
est :  how  then  can  it  be  supposed  that  he  could  ever  mean  to 
say,  that  man  is  to  be  saved  by  one  of  these  graces  alone,  and 
that  one,  not  the  one  which  he  declares  to  be  the  greatest  of  all  ? 
The  difficulty  is  easily  solved  by  admitting,  that  when  he  else- 
where speaks  of  man's  being  justified  by  faith  without  the  works 
of  the  law,  he  means  by  the  term  faith,  not  faith  as  a  specific 
grace  distinct  from  charity,  but  the  Christian  dispensation  in 
general,  as  distinct  from  the  Jewish  dispensation,  which  he  here 
calls  the  law.  But  when  he  speaks  of  faith  as  a  specific  Chris- 
tian grace  distinct  from  charity,  he  gives,  we  see,  the  superiority 
to  charity. 

Such  then  are  the  views  of  the  grace  of  charity,  and  of  its  su- 
preme importance,  as  given  by  the  Apostle  who  is  commonly 
supposed  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith  alone  :  and 
herein  he  both  obviously  and  powerfully  enforces,  and  beautifully 
elucidates,  the  doctrine  of  his  Divine  Master.  But  before  we 
conclude,  we  must  notice  the  manner  in  which  the  doctrine  is 
delivered  by  his  Divine  Master  himself  in  the  words  of  our  text. 

"  This  is  my  commandment,"  saith  our  gracious  Lord,  "  that 
ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you.  Greater  love  hath  no 
man  than  this  ;  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends.  Ye 
are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  3rou." 

Here,  in  making  his  love  to  us  the  pattern  from  which  we  are 
to  form  our  ideas  of  what  is  included  in  his  requisition  that  we 
should  love  one  another,  he  sets  before  us  an  exalted  standard 
indeed.  To  love  one  another  with  the  same  purity  and  devoted- 
ness  of  affection  as  glowed  in  his-  Divine  bosom  towards  mankind, 
when  he  assumed  their  nature  and  laid  down  the  life  of  it  for 
their  salvation ;  or  to  imitate  the  inconceivable  ardour  of  that 
Divine  Love  which  went  forth  originally  in  the  production  of  the 
universe,  and  which  still  maintains  in  existence,  and,  as  far  as 
the  state  and  nature  of  the  creatures  will  permit,  in  happy 
existence,  the  whole  assemblage  of  being  ; — this  indeed  were  a 
thing  infinitely  beyond  the  capacities  of  any  finite  being,  the 
utmost  energy  of  whose  love,  compared  to  Divine  Love  would  be 


412 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


no  more  than  a  small  and  gross  chamber  fire  on  earth  to  the 
pure  element  that  flames  in  the  sun.  When,  therefore,  the  Lord, 
requires  us  to  love  one  another  as  he  hath  loved  us,  since  he  never 
exacts  impossibilities  of  his  creatures,  his  meaning  is  the  same  as 
when  he  elsewhere  commands  us  to  be  perfect  even  as  our  Father 
who  is  in  heaven  is  perfect ; — not  that  the  perfection  of  our  love 
or  of  any  other  grace  of  which  we  can  be  the  subjects,  can  be 
equal  to  that  of  the  Lord, — can  be  the  same,  both  in  kind  and 
degree,  as  his ;  but  that  it  is  to  be  as  close  an  image  of  it  as 
finite  can  be  of  infinite,  or  human  of  Divine.  As  man  was  in- 
tended from  creation  to  be  an  image  and  likeness  of  God,  so,  to 
be  a  genuine  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  love  for  his  brethren 
must  be  an  image  and  likeness  of  his  Lord's  love  to  him  ;  and  so 
far  as  he  feels  that  he  is  remote  from  this  state,  he  must  make  it 
his  constant  endeavour,  by  avoiding  in  his  conduct  anything  that 
would  indicate  the  prevalence  of  unkind  and  uncharitable  dispo- 
sitions, to  attain  it. 

But  the  particular  circumstance  in  which  the  Lord  presents 
his  love  to  us  as  the  pattern  by  which  we  are  to  model  our  love 
for  each  other,  is,  that  of  his  laying  down  his  life  for  our  redemp- 
tion. "  Greater  love,"  saith  he,  "  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a 
man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends."  It  seems,  then,  that 
we  are  to  be  ready  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  our  friends,  should 
we  be  placed  in  circumstances  that  require  it.  This,  however, 
can  very  seldom  be  the  case  in  actual  life.  In  defence  of  his 
country,  indeed,  a  soldier  may  be  called  to  lay  down  his  life  ; 
and,  in  some  cases,  it  may  be  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  become 
a  soldier,  and  incur  the  same  peril :  and  whoever,  whether  soldier 
or  citizen,  acts  thus  from  the  sincere  love  of  his  country  and  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  doubtless  performs  an  eminent  act  of  charity. 
So,  in  the  case  of  extraordinary  accidents,  one  person  may  some- 
times have  the  opportunity  of  saving  the  life  of  another  at  the 
risk  of  his  own ;  and  he  who  truly  loves  his  neighbour  as  the 
Lord  loveth  all,  will  not  hesitate  to  do  so.  But  these  being  un- 
common cases,  cannot  be  what  the  Divine  Exhorter  here  chiefly 
intends.  There  is  a  way  in  which  every  one  may,  and  must,  to 
be  the  Lord's  true  disciple,  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends.  The 
fife  which  the  Lord  laid  down  for  man's  redemption,  was  the  in- 


CHARITY  GREATER  THAN  FAITH. 


413 


firm  and  merely  human  life  which  he  inherited  from  the  mother  ; 
and  without  the  laying  down  of  this  life,  the  divine  life  could 
not  have  fully  descended  into  the  human  nature,  and  thus  his 
Humanity  could  not  have  been  glorified,  or  rendered  itself  Di- 
vine. So,  that  we  may  become  truly  principled  in  charity  and 
mutual  love,  we  must  lay  down  the  life  of  our  selfish  nature, — of 
our  merely  selfish  inclinations  and  desires, — of  every  tendency 
and  disposition  that  would  lead  us  to  regard  ourselves  in  the  first 
place, — to  have  primary  respect  to  our  own  honour,  dignity,  im- 
portance, or  interest,  and  to  regard  others  only  as  they  may  be 
made  subservient  to  these  purpose.  This  is  truly  to  lay  down 
our  lives  for  our  friends  : — spiritually  considered,  our  friends  or 
lovers  are  all  the  principles  of  love  and  good  which  can  enter  our 
minds  from  the  Lord,  and  which  can  only  have  a  place  there,  as 
all  regard  to  self  alone,  as  the  primary  and  ruling  consideration, 
is  banished  from  the  breast.  As  we  thus  lay  down  our  lives  for 
our  spiritual  friends,  the  love  of  our  friends  and  brethren,  na- 
turally considered,  will  manifest  itself  in  our  conduct  and  live  in 
our  hearts.  For  what  is  the  cause  and  source  of  all  strife  and 
dissension,  and  of  all  unkindness  of  speech  and  behaviour,  but 
the  fife  and  activity  of  self,  and  self-regards  ?  It  is  purely  from 
these  that  we  are  so  apt  to  construe  the  acts  and  words  of  others, 
towards  and  respecting  us,  in  the  most  offensive  sense  that  can 
be  put  on  them,  and  to  repay  them  with  quick  resentment,  from 
a  feeling  of  wounded  dignity  and  self-importance.  But  if  we 
would  lay  down  our  life  for  our  friends — cultivate  the  principles 
of  charity  and  mutual  love  without  regard  to  selfish  impulses,  it 
would  be  impossible  that  offences  against  charity  could  long 
exist ;  or,  if  they  existed  in  some,  they  would  not  be  kept  alive 
and  extended  by  others.  Acts  of  aggression  from  those  who  are 
not  under  the  influence  of  this  holy  principle,  must  be  expected 
and  undergone  by  those  who  are  ;  but,  not  being  retorted,  they 
would  speedily  come  to  an  end.  Sparks  might  fly,  and  even 
firebrands  might  be  thrown  ;  but,  not  falling  upon  gunpowder,  or 
any  combustible  matter,  they  would  create  no  explosion  or  ex- 
tended conflagration.  Thus,  doing  what  the  Lord  commands, 
by  practising  good,  and  shunning  evil,  we  should  become  such 
as  the  Lord  honours  by  calling  them  his  friends ;  and  should 
continually  grow  in  the  virtues  of  love  and  charity,  which  bring 


414 


LECTURE  XXIV. 


with  them  all  peace,  consolation,  and  heavenly  joy  :  according  to 
the  concluding  words  of  the  Lord  in  our  text,  "Ye  are  my  friends, 
if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command  you." 

Surely,  my  brethren,  we  must  see  the  truly  amiable  and  de- 
lightful nature  of  such  a  state :  seeing  it,  then,  we  surely  shall 
be  ready  and  desirous,  on  every  occasion,  to  make  that  sacrifice 
of  our  selfish  life  which  is  necessary  to  its  attainment.  Let  us, 
from  what  has  been  advanced,  realize  in  our  minds  a  sense  of 
the  necessity,  if  we  would  be  the  disciples  of  Him  whom  we  pro- 
fess to  venerate  as  our  truly  Almighty  Saviour  because  our  only 
God, — of  ever  remembering  the  supremacy  among  Christian 
virtues  of  the  grace  of  charity,  and  of  conforming  all  our  inclina- 
tions and  desires,  our  thoughts,  our  words,  and  our  works,  to  its 
sacred  rule.  Generally  speaking,  we  all  know  what  love  to  each 
other  must  be  : — knowing  this,  let  us  ever  be  careful  to  act  ac- 
cordingly. Let  it  be  our  constant  habit,  frequently  to  compare 
our  actual  conduct  with  our  sense  of  what  it  would  and  must  be, 
if  charity  were  continually  at  its  source.  We  all  have  some  idea, 
however  inadequate,  since  it  is  impossible  for  finite  to  compre- 
hend infinite,  of  what  the  love  of  the  Lord  is  to  man  ;  our  love 
to  each  other  must  be  modelled  into  the  faithful  image  of  this 
original.  It  necessarily  must  be  so,  before  we  can  enter  the 
society  of  angels  ;  as  doubtless  we  all  hope  to  do  when  we  die. 
There,  nothing  reigns  but  the  principle  of  love  ;  and  so  pure  and 
disinterested  is  their  affection  for  each  other,  that  every  one  loves 
his  neighbour,  not  only  as,  but  better  than,  himself.  Think  of 
the  conduct  that  this  would  dictate  :  and  though,  while  the 
clogs  of  materiality  still  hang  upon  us,  it  is  impossible  to  attain 
to  perfection  like  this,  let  us  be  careful  not  to  fall  below  the 
divine  standard  of  human  excellence,  but  to  love  our  neighbour 
truly  as  ourselves.  Then,  instead  of  the  delights  of  self-love, 
which  our  natural  infirmities  incline  us  to  esteem  so  highly,  but 
which  are  real  miseries,  bringing,  when  attained  in  the  highest 
degree,  nothing  but  restless  and  painful  feelings  into  the  bosom, 
we  shall  come  into  the  enjoyment  of  the  delights  of  love  to  the 
Lord  and  our  neighbour,  which  are  delights  indeed,  having 
within  them  principles  of  essential  happiness,  and  preparing  the 
soul  for  happiness  everlasting. 


LECTURE  XXV. 


ACTION    FROM    LOVE     SUPERIOR    TO    ITS    INDISPENSABLE  PRE- 
CURSOR, ACTION  FROM  THE  OBEDIENCE  OF  FAITH. 


John  xv.  12 — 15. 

"  This  is  my  commandment;  That  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have 
loved  you.  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this  ;  that  a  man  lay 
down  his  life  for  his  friends.  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  what- 
soever I  command  you.  Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants  ;  for 
the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  Lord  doeth :  but  I  have  called 
you  friends  ;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father  I 
have  made  known  unto  you.'"1 

In  our  last  Lecture,  we  had  not  time  to  consider  the  Lord's 
own  words  upon  the  subject  of  it,  as  recited  in  the  text,  so 
prominently  as  their  importance  demands,  and  as  is  due  to  their 
supreme  authority ;  nor  even  to  notice  the  last  verse  of  the  text, 
as  now  read,  at  all,  though  most  illustrative  and  confirmatory  of 
the  doctrine  in  view.  To  supply  this  deficiency  I  will  now  add 
a  short  Supplementary  Discourse,  in  which,  from  the  last  verse, 
I  will  address  you  on  the  cognate  subject  which  that  verse  sug- 
gests, and  will  endeavour  to  show, — as  a  branch  of  the  doctrine, 
that  Charity  and  not  Faith,  is  the  first  Essential  of  pure  Chris- 
tianity,— that  Action  from  Love  is  superior  to  its  indispensable 
Precursor,  Action  from  the  obedience  of  Faith.  And,  meaning  to 
be  very  brief,  I  will  treat  the  subject  more  in  the  style  of  a 
practical  Sermon  than  of  a  doctrinal  Lecture. 

From  the  former  part  of  the  words  now  read,  it  was  en- 
deavoured, in  the  preceding  Lecture,  to  set  forth  the  grand  and 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ :  and  from 
these  words  compared  with  the  context,  and  with  the  whole 


416 


LECTURE  XXV. 


tenor  of  the  Divine  Teacher's  discourses  from  one  end  of  the 
gospels  to  the  other,  we  have  been  enabled  clearly  to  discern,  in 
the  first  place,  the  doctrine  just  now  stated  again, — That  Charity, 
and  not  Faith,  is  the  first  Essential,  and  primary  Constituent,  of 
the  Christian  Religion  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  as  necessary  to 
the  right  understanding  of  that  doctrine,  what  the  true  nature 
of  that  all-important  grace  is.  In  establishing  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  alone,  the  framers  of  systems,  have  relied 
solely  upon  the  authority  of  a  passage  or  two  in  the  writings  of 
the  Apostle  Paul ;  though,  were  such  truly  the  meaning  of  such 
passage  or  passages,  he  would  contradict  the  whole  teaching  of 
his  Divine  Master,  and  of  all  his  brother-apostles :  accordingly, 
we  have  seen  that  he  had  no  such  meaning,  and  have  shown  that 
the  true  nature  of  Charity,  its  indispensable  importance,  and  its 
superiority  to  Faith,  are  most  powerfully  taught  by  that  very 
Apostle,  on  whose  imagined  authority  alone  the  contrary  doctrine 
has  been  erected.  The  genuine  doctrine  upon  this  subject  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  is,  "And  now  abide  faith,  hope,  and  charity; — 
but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity"  [1  Cor.  xiii.  13]  :  as  the 
plain  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  is,  "By  this  shall  all  men  know 
that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another"  [John 
xiii.  35].  Or,  as  in  the  first  three  verses  of  the  text,  "This  is 
my  commandment,  That  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved 
you.  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this  ;  that  a  man  lay 
down  his  life  for  his  friends.  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  what- 
soever I  command  you."  This  is  eminently  his  commandment, 
— the  peculiar  characteristic  of  his  religion  :  and  how.  beautiful, 
how  truly  divine  a  characteristic  it  is  !  His  disciples  are  to  love 
one  another  with  a  love  imitative  of  that  which  the  Lord  dis- 
played for  us,  in  assuming  our  nature  and  working  out,  through 
direful  conflicts  and  sufferings,  our  redemption,  even  to  the 
extent  of  laying  down  his  life  for  our  sakes.  We  also  are  to  lay 
down  our  life  for  our  friends ;  by  which,  we  have  seen  in 
our  last,  is  properly  and  spiritually  meant,  the  life  of  our  self- 
love — of  all  the  corruptions  and  perversions  of  our  nature, — of 
all  that  tends  to  fix  our  regards  upon  ourselves,  our  own  influence, 
and  interest,  and  to  disregard  the  welfare  and  the  feelings 
of  others.    This  life  we  are  to  lay  down  for  our  friends ; — that 


ACTION  FROM   LOVE  AND  ACTION  FROM  FAITH.  417 


is,  spiritualty  understood, — in  order  that  the  genuine  principles 
of  charity  and  love,  signified  by  friends,  may  take  up  their 
residence  in  our  bosoms;  for  just  in  proportion  as  self-love 
and  the  love  of  the  world  are  banished  thence,  can  the  love 
of  the  Lord  and  of  our  neighbour  enter,  and  assume  the 
supremacy. 

What  a  heaven  should  we  behold  on  earth,  were  such  to  be- 
come indeed,  the  character  and  state  of  all  who  profess  to  be 
the  disciples 'of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  assume,  from  that 
circumstance,  the  name  of  Christians !  How  happy  would  that 
society  of  Christians  be,  where  such  a  love  possessed  the  breasts 
of  all !  How  necessary  for  those  to  strive  to  attain  such  a  state, 
and  to  avoid  every  thing  in  their  conduct  which  could  indicate 
the  absence  of  it,  who  profess  to  believe  that  love  is,  of  a  truth, 
the  first  essential  of  the  Christian  religion ;  and  who  believe  that 
the  Lord  is  making  his  second  advent,  when  the  reception  of  this 
blessed  principle,  in  conjunction  with  the  acknowledgment  of 
Him  as  the  only  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  is  once  more,  and 
more  conspicuously  than  ever,  to  be  the  distinguishing  mark  of 
those  who  receive  him  ! 

But  is  it  possible  that  such  an  exalted  state  of  heavenly  love  and 
life  can  be  instantaneously  implanted,  and  brought  to  maturity, 
in  the  breast  'of  every  one  who  becomes  a  disciple  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  acknowledges  him  as  his  only  God  and 
Saviour?  Is  it  possible  that  Action  from  Love  can  constitute 
the  characteristic  of  his  conduct  at  once  ?  Can  in  a  moment  all 
the  evil  tendencies  which  lurk  in  the  human  heart — that  love  of 
self  and  love  of  the  world  which  are  now  by  birth  the  inheritance 
of  all  the  human  species — be  ejected  ;  and  such  love  to  the  Lord 
and  our  neighbour  be  implanted  in  their  stead?  As  ends  doubtless, 
this  latter  change  is  possible  ;  and  must  be  the  case.  So  long  as 
the  love  of  self  and  the  love  of  the  world  reign  with  a  person  as  the 
ends  of  his  life,  his  pursuits  and  actions,  he  is  no  disciple  of  the 
Lord,  or  subject  of  his  kingdom,  at  all:  and  they  cannot  cease  to 
reign  as  ends,  without  their  opposites,  the  love  of  the  Lord  and 
of  the  neighbour,  assuming  the  supremacy  in  their  place.  But 
still  they  will  continue  for  a  long  time  to  exert  an  influence  on 
the  mind,  and  will  occasionally  struggle  hard  to  regain  their  do- 
27 


418 


LECTURE  XXV. 


minion ;  and.  so  long,  the  love  of  the  Lord  and  our  neighbour, 
though  existing  within,  will  not  be  so  manifestly  felt  in  the 
fulness  of  their  beneficent,  soothing,  and  delightful  influence. 
The  man,  indeed,  must,  and  will  act  in  obedience  to  what  he 
knows  to  be  their  requirements ;  he  will  shun  evils  as  sins 
against  God  ;  and  thus  shunning  evils,  he  will  avoid  doing  what 
is  inconsistent  with  the  love  of  his  neighbour.  But  he  will  for  a 
time,  act  thus  from  a  sense  of  duty, — because  he  knows  that  the 
Lord  requires  it,  and  that  without  obedience  to  his  command- 
ments he  cannot  be  a  disciple  of  his,  or  a  subject  of  his  king- 
dom :  thus  he  will  act  from  the  Obedience  of  Faith  in  these 
things :  but,  for  a  time,  he  will  not  be  so  consciously  sensible  of 
a  love  for  the  good  which  he  thus  is  led  to  do,  accompanied,  as 
all  conscious  love  is,  when  its  objects  are  gratified,  with  a  sense 
of  delight  and  enjoyment.  This  will  succeed,  in  proportion  as, 
by  continually  fighting  against  evils,  the  life  of  the  selfhood  is 
extinguished ;  as,  according  to  what  we  have  seen  in  our  last, 
we  are  required  to  do:  but  this  is  never  accomplished  at  once, 
but  only  by  degrees  :  and  till  it  is  in  some  good  measure  accom- 
plished, such  a  love  of  goodness,  and  thus  of  our  neighbour,  as 
the  Lord  requires,  and  as  we  are  unceasingly  to  aim  at,  cannot 
be  shed  abroad  in  all  its  conscious  fulness  in  the  breast.  By 
birth,  or  by  natural  disposition  alone,  we  are  not  principled  in 
the  love  of  our  neighbour :  we  all  have,  indeed,  some  naturally 
good  dispositions,  and  are  capable  of  loving  those  with  whom  we 
are  connected  by  relationship  and  by  consociation  from  early 
years  :  but  still,  the  love  of  self  and  of  the  world  being  natu- 
rally predominant,  we  are  strangers,  as  to  natural  disposition 
alone,  to  the  genuine  love  of  the  Lord  and  our  neighbour.  Now 
every  one  knows  that  he  cannot  change  his  love  by  a  mere 
thought  or  effort  of  the  mind,  so  as  immediately  to  love  something 
which  he  did  not  love  before.  Love  always  enters  and  grows, 
as  it  were,  spontaneously,  and  cannot  be  received,  changed,  or 
put  off,  by  a  thought,  or  even  by  a  wish.  But  the  love  of  self 
and  the  world  are  removed  from  the  mind  by  the  Lord,  in 
proportion  as  man,  from  a  conviction  of  their  evil  nature,  strives 
to  avoid  cherishing  the  thoughts  and  inclinations  which  they  sug- 
gest to  him,  and  abstains,  in  practice,  from  the  evils  to  which 


ACTION  FROM  LOVE   AND  ACTION  FROM  FAITH.  419 

they  would  prompt  him  :  and  as  man  does  this,  the  Lord  infuses 
the  opposite  affections  into  his  soul,  of  the  love  of  Him  and  of 
his  neighbour.  While  in  this  preparatory  state,  he  acts  from  the 
Obedience  of  Faith. 

This  order,  then,  by  which  man  proceeds  to  the  full  attainment 
of  that  principle  of  charity,  of  that  mutual  love,  or  love  of  his 
brethren,  which  the  Lord  propounds  as  his  great  commandment, 
is  what  is  alluded  to  in  the  concluding  verse  of  our  text ;  when 
He  says  to  the  disciples,  "  Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants ; 
for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth  :  but  I  have 
called  you  friends  ;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father 
I  have  made  known  unto  you."  Throughout  the  Word  of  God, 
when  the  term  "  servant"  is  made  use  of,  it  is  employed  in  rela- 
tion to  the  principle  of  truth,  and  to  those  who  receive  it,  and 
act  under  its  influence  ;  thus,  also,  to  the  principle  of  faith, 
which  is  belief  of  the  truth  :  and  frequently  it  is  used  in  contra- 
distinction to  those  who  act  more  immediately  from  a  principle 
of  goodness  or  of  love.  A  servant — especially  such  servants  as 
are  commonly  spoken  of  in  Scripture,  who,  agreeably  to  the 
custom  universally  prevalent  in  ancient  times,  were  what  we 
now  call  slaves,  being  actually  the  property  of  those  whom  they 
served  : — such  a  servant,  particularly,  is  not  his  own  master,  but 
is  bound  to  act  continually  according  to  the  commands  of 
another,  without  even  having  the  privilege,  which  servants  in 
modern  times  and  in  Christian  countries  possess,  of  changing 
his  master,  or,  if  he  sees  the  opportunity  of  gaining  an  indepen- 
dent livelihood,  of  withdrawing  from  servitude  altogether.  Such 
a  servant,  then,  is  a  most  apt  representative  of  those  persons, 
who,  in  their  religious  pursuits'  and  practice,  act  under  the 
influence  of  a  principle  of  truth  received  in  the  understanding, 
— or  which  they  believe,  and  to  which  they  yield  obedience, 
— without  having  a  full  sense  of  such  a  love  for  the  duties  which 
they  are  taught  to  practise,  as  would  prompt  their  performance 
with  perfect  readiness  and  delight : — thus  they  represent  such 
persons  as  live  in  the  practice  of  the  duties  of  charity,  because 
they  kn<rw  that  such  is  the  will  and  commandment  of  the  Lord, 
and  that  his  truth  requires  it,  without  a  full  conscious  feeling  of 
that  love  or  charity  itself  which  would  spontaneously  flow  into 


420  LECTURE  XXV. 

the  practice  of  such  duties.  Thus  they  act,  as  it  were,  from 
another,  and  not  from  a  consciously  free  principle  in  their  own 
minds.  It  is  true  that  they  still  do  act  from  a  free  principle,  since 
the  motive  that  determines  them  to  action  is  within  themselves, 
and  they  could  act  otherwise  if  they  pleased  :  still  the  motive  is 
altogether  in  their  internal  man,  and  their  external,  not  being 
yet  brought  so  under  its  influence  as  to  love  the  same  things, 
acts  with  a  sense  of  compulsion  or  constraint.  Truly,  as  the 
Lord  here  says,  "  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  lorddoeth," 
— is  not  conscious  of  the  design  from  which  he  is  required  to  act, 
or  of  the  secfret  counsels  and  motives  which  are  active  in  the  in- 
teriors of  the  mind  by  which  its  actions  are  controlled.  Thus, 
also,  although  in  such  a  state  man  acts  from  the  dictate  of  the 
truth  which  he  acknowledges,  there  still  is  not  that  inward  per- 
ception even  of  the  truth,  which  is  imparted  when  the  obstruc- 
tions in  the  external  man  are  removed,  and  man  is  brought  to  act, 
fully  and  consciously,  under  the  influence  of  love.  He  believes 
the  truth  without  having  a  clear  intuition  of  it :  and  he  acts  from 
the  Obedience  of  such  Faith. 

But  when  the  Lord  thus  says  to  his  disciples,  "  Henceforth  I 
call  you  not  servants,"  it  obviously  implies,  that,  previously,  they 
had  been  in  the  state,  of  which  a  servant  is  the  symbol ;  al- 
though, at  the  time  when  he  was  speaking,  they  were  passing 
into  the  higher  state  of  friends.  It  is,  however,  plain  enough 
from  their  history,  that  the  Lord's  disciples  in  the  world  did  not 
enter  into  this  second  state  till  after  his  resurrection, — indeed, 
not  fully  till  the  day  of  Pentecost;  for  notwithstanding  the 
plainness  of  his  latter  instructions,  it  is  evident  that,  till  then, 
they  remained  in  great  obscurity  as  to  his  meaning:  but  as  the 
second  state  had  now  commenced,  and  the  Lord  knew  that  it 
would  speedily  be  fully  developed,  he  here  speaks  as  if  it  were 
accomplished,  and  converses  with  them  accordingly.  There- 
fore, to  his  statement,  "  Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants  ; 
for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth,"  he  adds  the 
consoling  remark,  "  but  I  have  called  you  friends  ;  for  all  things 
that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you." 
By  the  Lord's  friends,  or  lovers,  are  obviously  meant  such  per- 
sons as  do  not,  like  those  who  are  called  servants,  act  from  a 


ACTION  FROM  LOVE  AND  ACTION  FROM  FAITH.  421 


mere  motive  of  duty,  or  dictate  of  truth, — from  obedience  to 
faith, — but  whose  conduct  is  immediately  influenced  by  the  love 
of  the  good  which  they  are  called  upon  to  do, — thus  who  truly 
are  lovers  of  the  Lord,  and  thence  also  of  their  neighbour. 
When  a  man  attains  this  state,  he  acts  from  freedom  itself. 
There  is  no  longer  anything  like  irksomeness  to  him  in  obe- 
dience to  any  of  the  commandments  of  his  Saviour  God.  All 
those  commandments  require  nothing  but  what  a  real  love  of 
goodness  spontaneously  prompts  to  :  all,  therefore,  who  have 
attained  this  love,  or  in  whose  minds  it  reigns  without  being 
intercepted  in  its  descent  by  a  yet  unregenerate  state  of  their 
external  man,  will  keep  all  the  divine  commandments,  without 
feeling,  in  doing  so,  anything  like  restraint.  They  see,  in  every 
practical  truth  with  which  they  become  acquainted,  nothing  but 
a  help  towards  living  with  greater  fulness  in  the  delight  of  their 
life,  by  bringing  more  completely  into  activity  that  love  in 
which  their  very  life  consists  :  thus,  most  eminently  is  it  their 
experience,  in  the  words  of  the  Lord's  beloved  disciple,  who  so 
well  knew,  from  his  own  pre-eminent  attainments  in  love,  what 
are  the  feelings  it  brings  with  it,  that  "his  commandments  are 
not  grievous"  [1  John,  v.  3].  Friends  or  lovers  of  the  Lord, 
they  must  love  all  that  which  the  Lord  essentially  is,  which  is, 
goodness  and  truth  :  they  must  love,  therefore,  all  those  in 
whom  goodness  and  truth  from  the  Lord  are — thus  they  must 
love  one  another :  they  must  desire  to  see  goodness  and  truth 
universally  reigning  in  the  human  breast ;  and  therefore  they 
must  love  all  mankind. 

They,  also,  who  are  in  this  state,  though  they  no  longer  take 
their  leading  character  from  the  principle  of  truth,  but  from 
that  of  goodness  ;  will,  in  consequence  of  having  their  internal 
man  opened,  and  thus  being  in  the  enjoyment  of  light  from 
heaven,  be  in  the  perception  of  truth  more  than  others  :  whence 
the  Lord  here  says,  of  the  disciples  as  his  friends,  "  All  things 
that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you." 
We  are  not  to  suppose  from  this,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as 
a  separate  and  subordinate  person,  had  revelations  made  to  him 
audibly  from  the  Father,  as  another  and  superior  Deity  :  the 
true  idea  intended  is,  as  was  abundantly  shown  in  the  Lectures 


422 


LECTURE  XXV. 


on  the  Lord's  Mediation,  &c.,  that  the  Divine  Humanity  of  the 
Lord,  receiving  into  itself  all  the  fulness  of  the  Essential  Divinity, 
is  the  medium  of  conveying  to  those  who,  through  love  and 
obedience,  are  in  states  to  receive  them,  those  perceptions  of 
divine  wisdom  by  which  their  minds  are  enlightened,  and  by 
which  they  form  just  conceptions  of  the  nature  and  person  of 
their  God  and  Saviour,  and  of  the  way  in  which  they  are  to 
walk,  to  bring  into  corresponding  operation  that  spirit  of  love 
which  they  have  received  from  Him.  This  attribute  of  the 
Lord's  Divine  Humanity,  as  receiving  in  itself  the  fulness  of 
the  Essential  Divinity,  and  dispensing  divine  gifts  and  percep- 
tions to  man,  is  what  is  described,  in  terms  taken  from  the 
ordinary  use  of  natural  language,  by  His  saying,  "All  things 
that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you." 
The  application  will  be  equally  just,  if  we  consider  the  Lord  as 
here  speaking  in  his  character  of  the  Divine  Truth  :  for  Divine 
Truth,  signified  in  Scripture  by  the  Son,  derives  all  that  it  has 
from  the  Divine  Good,  signified  by  the  Father,  and  is  the  source 
of  all  the  perceptions  of  truth  communicated  to  mankind. 
From  the  inmost  Divinity  itself,  man  can  immediately  receive 
nothing  :  the  Divine  Humanity,  and  the  Divine  Truth  which  is 
one  therewith,  is  the  only  medium  by  which  the  communications 
of  Divine  Love  can  reach  mankind  :  and  because  man  had  fallen 
so  low  that  even  the  Divine  Truth,  as  it  existed  before  the  in- 
carnation, had  become  ineffectual  for  that  purpose,  the  Lord 
assumed  the  human  nature  actually  ;  that  thus,  operating  upon 
the  natural  man  from  the  corresponding  principle  rendered 
Divine  in  himself,  the  streams  of  saving  mercy  might  flow  anew 
into  his  soul.  All  this  is  included  in  the  gracious  declaration, 
"All  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father,  have  I  made  known 
unto  you." 

From  what  has  been  advanced  we  see  for  our  encouragement, 
that  though  we  cannot  be  fully  the  Lord's  disciples  but  by  loving 
one  another  as  he  hath  loved  us  ;  nor  at  all,  except  as  we  look 
towards  this  state  and  earnestly  strive  to  make  it  our  own  \ 
yet  we  are  not  to  be  disheartened  when  we  feel  that  we  have 
not  yet  realized  the  blessed  distinction.  Before  we  can  fully  be 
the  Lord's  friends,  we  must,  on  first  passing  from  a  merely 


■  ACTION  FROM  LOVE  AND  ACTION  FROM  FAITH.  423 

natural  state  towards  a  spiritual  one,  be  his  servants.  Action 
from  the  Obedience  of  Faith  is  the  indispensable  Precursor  of 
its  superior,  Action  from  Love.  But  let  us  not  imagine  that, 
even  in  this  prior  state,  we  can  ever  neglect  with  impunity  the 
duties  of  charity,  in  their  practical  results.  We  are  not  even 
the  Lord's  servants  unless  we  truly  do  serve  him  ;  and  we 
cannot  serve  him  but  by  keeping,  sincerely,  his  commandments  ; 
otherwise,  our  faith  is  indeed  alone,  and  productive  of  no  benefit 
to  the  soul.  We  must  ever  keep  in  our  minds  the  idea  of  what 
charity  and  mutual  love  really  are,  and  what  is  the  conduct 
which  manifests  their  existence.  We  cannot  thus  contemplate 
them,  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  in  thought  and  in  practice 
whatever  is  inconsistent  with  them,  without  finding,  first,  the 
admiration,  and  then,  the  love  of  them,  springing  up  within 
our  hearts.  Let  us  most  earnestly  strive  to  encourage  their 
growth.  Let  us  look  continually  to  the  Lord,  who  alone  can 
remove  the  principle  of  evil  love  from  the  bosom,  and  implant 
in  its  place  the  love  of  good  :  but  let  us  at  the  same  time  be 
careful  to  shun  all  evils  as  sins,  and  so  to  act  as  we  see  we 
should  act  if  truly  under  the  influence  of  living  charity.  So 
shall  we  attain  the  higher  state  which  involves  Action  from 
Love.  So,  also,  shall  we  know  what  it  is  to  be  of  the  number 
of  those  whom  the  Lord  condescends  to  call  his  friends, — and 
we  shall  be  replenished,  by  his  Divine  Truth,  with  all  the  hea- 
venly blessings  of  which  his  Divine  Love  is  the  exhaustless 
Origin  and  Source. 


LECTURE  XXVI. 

THE  JUSTIFICATION  OF  A  SINNER  BEFORE  GOD. 


Matt.  xii.  35 — 37. 

"  A  good  man  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart  bringeth  forth 
good  things :  and  an  evil  man  out  of  the  evil  treasure  bringeth 

forth  evil  things.  But  I  say  unto  you,  That  every  idle  word  that 
men  shall  speak,  they  shall  give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of 

judgment.  For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  condemned." 

I  have  had  occasion  repeatedly  to  observe  on  former  opportu- 
nities, that  the  views  which  I  am  endeavouring  to  set  before  you 
in  these  Lectures,  as  the  doctrines  of  the  True  Christian  Reli- 
gion, bear,  at  least,  this  very  usual  mark  of  truth  : — that  they 
come  between  the  extremes  into  which  opposite  denominations 
of  professing  Christians  have  run  in  forming  their  respective 
systems.  I  have  also  had  occasion  to  remark,  that  the  views  of 
Christianity  which  I  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  opposing, 
so  far  from  being  those  of  Christianity  itself, — so  far  from  being 
parts  of  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  and  for  which  we 
are  exhorted  by  the  Apostle  to  contend,  are  notions  which  were 
introduced  long  after  the  age  of  the  Apostles,  which  put  on  their 
worst  form  among  the  corruptions  of  the  Romish  domination  and 
during  the  ignorance  of  the  dark  ages  ;  and  some  of  which  were 
actually  unknown  in  the  church  till  the  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion from  Popery,  and  owed  their  birth  and  introduction  to 
Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  other  leaders  of  that  great,  and,  not- 
withstanding, eminently  beneficial  event. 

Both  these  observations  are  exemplified  in  the  doctrine  which 
is  to  form  the  subject  of  our  Lecture  of  this  evening  ;  which  is 


JUSTIFICATION. 


425 


to  be,  the  Justification  of  the  Sinner  before  God.  We  have,  indeed, 
anticipated  much  belonging  to  this  subject  in  our  last  two  or 
three  Lectures  :  yet  not  to  deliver  a  Lecture  expressly  upon  it,  in 
a  Series  on  the  most  important  doctrines  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion, might  be  deemed  an  unpardonable  omission.  I  trust  there- 
fore, to  be  excused,  should  I,  in  endeavouring  to  meet  a  general 
expectation,  repeat  again,  a  few  things  that  have  been  inciden- 
tally stated  before. 

To  a  human  being,  existing  in  the  state  in  which  we  behold 
human  beings  in  general  on  this  earth,  no  subject  more  impor- 
tant can  easily  be  conceived,  than  that  of  the  Justification  of 
the  sinner  before  God.  As  human  beings,  we  are  immortal ; 
yet  as  inhabitants  of  this  world  we  are  mortal,  and  must  soon 
take  our  departure  hence  to  meet  our  final  doom  in  eternity. 
But,  at  the  same  time  (what  few  can  be  so  blinded  by  self-love 
and  self-conceit  as  not  to  acknowledge),  we  are  sinners  :  we  feel 
tendencies  to  evil,  however  we  came  by  them,  inherent  in  our 
nature,  and  we  all,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  have  shocked  the 
eyes  of  Infinite  Holiness  and  Purity  by  the  indulgence  of  evil  af- 
fections and  thoughts,  and  the  practice  of  evil  deeds.  And  we 
all  are  to  "  appear,"  in  the  language  of  the  Apostle,  "  before  the 
judgment  seat  of  Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  for  the  things 
done  in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be 
good  or  bad"  [2  Cor.  v.  10].  How  then  can  beings,  such  as 
we  know  ourselves  to  be,  appear  there  with  safety  ?  How  can 
the  stains  with  which  we  are  defiled  be  washed  away  ?  How  is 
a  sinner  to  obtain  Justification  before  God  ? 

To  supply  the  means  by  which  this  all-necessary  attainment 
might  be  secured,  was  the  design  of  the  appearance  on  earth  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  of  the  assumption  of  Humanity  by 
the  great  Jehovah :  and  to  make  known  to  man  what  these 
means  are,  is  the  object  of  the  instructions  of  the  whole  Word 
of  God.  Most  important,  then,  is  it,  to  every  individual  of  the 
human  race  who  lives  where  that  Word  exists  and  sheds  its 
light,  rightly  to  be  informed  what  its  instructions  in  regard  to  this 
momentous  subject  are, — to  know  what  is  the  true  doctrine  of 
Justification. 

Justification,  say  all  the  prevailing  Protestant  Churches,  is  by 


426 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


Faith  only.  The  maintaining  of  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by- 
Faith  only,  says  the  great  Reformer,  Luther,  is  "  the  article  of  a 
standing  or  falling  Church  ;"  a  statement  which  is  repeated  by  a 
living  Author,  a  Clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  of  whom 
we  shall  presently  speak  further,  and  who  confirms  the  declara- 
tion of  Luther  by  his  own  suffrage,  that  it  is  "  the  very  heart  and 
core  of  our  common  Christianity."  Yet  strange  to  say,  this  as- 
serted criterion  of  a  standing  or  falling  Church, — this  heart  and 
core  of  the  common  Christianity, — is  one  of  those  doctrines,  and 
in  fact,  the  chief  of  them,  which,  as  we  have  just  noticed,  never 
were  known  in  the  church  till  the  days  of  what  is  called  the  Re- 
formation. If  it  had  been  crudely  broached  by  the  earlier  Re- 
former, Wickliffe,  it  was  dressed  up  in  the  form  which  it  has  ever 
since  retained,  and  made  the  very  first  doctrine  of  the  Christian 
Religion,  by  Luther  and  his  fellow-labourers; — thus,  not  till  the 
sixteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era. 

Do  not  imagine,  my  friends  and  brethren,  that  I  am  going  to 
decry  the  labours,  and  to  depreciate  the  merits,  of  Luther  and 
his  colleagues.  It  is  most  true  that  we  owe  to  them  an  immense 
debt  of  gratitude.  But  for  them,  and  especially,  for  Luther 
who,  after  the  days  of  Wickliffe,  first  led  the  van,  and  whose 
indomitable  fortitude  alone  was  adequate  to  the  making  of 
any  effectual  stand  against  the  then  universally  established 
power  of  Rome,  we  should  have  been  groaning,  in  all  probability, 
in  the  spiritual  slavery  of  the  Romish  Church,  and  groping  in 
its  unmitigated  darkness,  at  the  present  day :  and  I  doubt  not 
that  he  is  enjoying,  at  this  moment,  in  heaven,  the  reward,  not 
of  his  faith  only,  but  of  his  many  illustrious  and  truly  beneficent 
deeds  of  charity.  Numerous  are  the  corruptions  and  abuses 
which  he  cleared  away  ;  and  as  it  is  owing,  very  greatly,  to  his 
efforts,  that  the  Word  of  God  was  brought  forth  from  its  ob- 
scurity, and  made  accessible  to  all,  we  are  in  part  indebted  to 
him,  as  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Providence,  for  all  the 
light  which,  from  that  Divine  Source,  is  now  diffusing  its  rays 
over  the  world.  But  his  desire  to  make  an  impassable  line  of 
distinction  between  his  disciples  and  those  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  caused  him  to  go,  in  one  respect,  too  far.  He  might, 
indeed,  have  made  a  line  of  distinction  broad  enough,  without 


JUSTIFICATION. 


427 


trangressing  the  line  of  truth,  by  reforming  a  greater  error  of 
the  Romish  Church  than  any  that  he  meddled  with.  He  might 
have  removed  the  desolating  doctrine  of  a  trinity  of  separate 
Divine  Persons,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  errors  which 
have  deluged  the  Christian  Church, — not,  as  some  have  done,  by 
rejecting  a  trinity  altogether,  or  by  denying  the  divinity  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  without  the  acknowledgment  of  which  there 
can  be  no  Church  at  all, — but  by  acknowledging  the  Person  01 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  Manifestation  and  Form  of  the  Father, 
or  the  Divine  Essence,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  to  be  the  Divine  in- 
fluences and  operations  thence  proceeding ;  thus  acknowledging 
a  trinity  of  Essentials  of  Deity  in  one  person,  instead  of  a 
trinity  of  actual  separate  Deities  in  three.  But,  doubtless,  the 
fulness  of  time  for  the  re-discovery  of  this  Grand  Truth,  which 
is  truly  the  article  of  a  standing  or  a  falling  Church,  was 
not  then  come.  Yet  Luther  had  more  just  and  more  exalted 
views  of  the  Person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  than  any  of  the 
other  leading  Reformers.  He  acknowledged  him  to  be  Divine 
even  as  to  his  Humanity,  and  taught  the  momentous  and  ma- 
jestic truth,  that  in  Him,  God  is  Man  and  Man  is  God ;  a  grand 
and  glorious  avowal,  which  will  ever  command  for  him  the  re- 
spect of  those  who  embrace  the  sentiments  which  I  have  humbly 
endeavored  to  advocate  in  these  Lectures  as  the  doctrines  of 
the  True  Christian  Religion.  But  the  same  degree  of  divine 
illumination  did  not  guide  him,  when,  in  evil  hour  for  the  cause 
of  genuine  Religion  he  declared  that  man  is  justified  by  faith 
only, — by  faith  and  nothing  else ;  and  set  up  this  as  the  stan- 
dard under  which  his  followers  were  to  combat  with  the  Roman- 
ists. Strange  to  say,  herein  all  the  other  Protestant  leaders  were 
content  to  follow  him:  and  thus  has  been  established,  through  all 
Protestant  Christendom,  a  most  erroneous  tenet  as  the  very  heart 
and  core  of  the  whole  Christian  Religion. 

As  alluded  to  in  our  last  Lectures,  the  foundation  upon  which 
Luther  and  the  Protestant  leaders  have  built  this  doctrine,  is,  in 
reality,  only  one  passage  of  Paul,  where  he  says,  "Therefore  we 
conclude  that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith,  without  the  deeds  of 
the  law"  [Rom.  hi.  28].  But  the  Apostle  does  not  here  say 
that  man  is  justified  by  faith  only :  nor  by  the  term  "  faith" 


428 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


does  he  here  mean  the  individual  grace  so  named.  As  observed 
in  our  last  or  last  but  one,  this  Apostle  often  uses  the  term 
"faith"  to  signify  the  Christian  religion  in  general,  as  he  often 
uses  the  term  "  the  law"  for  the  Jewish  religion  in  general. 
These  are  what  he  means  by  the  two  terms  here,  which  thus  are 
placed  in  exact  contrast,  as  the  Apostle  evidently  intends. 
Whenever  he  speaks  of  faith  as  an  individual  Christian  grace  and 
does  not  mean  by  it  the  Christian  religion  in  general,  he  is  far 
enough  from  ascribing  to  it  the  whole  power  of  justification. 
"  Though,"  as  we  have  before  quoted,  he  says,  "  I  have  all  faith, 
so  that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am 
nothing"  [1  Cor.  xiii.  2].  Is  this  the  language  of  a  person  who 
meant  to  teach,  that  man  is  justified  by  faith  alone?  Charity, 
we  see,  is  the  grace,  according  to  this  enlightened  teacher,  upon 
which  the  whole  efficacy  of  faith  depends :  is  this  like  teaching 
that  Justification  is  by  faith  alone?  But  his  language  becomes 
still  more  decided :  "  And  now,"  saith  he,  to  conclude  the  sub- 
ject, "abideth  faith,  hope  (or  confidence),  and  charity,  these 
three:  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity"  [lb.  ver.  13].  In 
this  Apostle's  estimation,  the  individual  grace  of  charity  is 
greater  than  the  individual  grace  of  faith  ;  can  it  be  imagined, 
then,  that  he  ever  thought  of  teaching,  that  man  is  to  be  justified 
by  the  single  grace  of  faith,  and  nothing  else  ? 

But  the  Apostle  Paul  was  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ:  does  then  his  Divine  Master  ever  ascribe  the  Justifica- 
tion of  man  to  faith  alone?  He  uses  the  expression,  in  appli- 
cation to  the  Justification  of  the  sinner,  but  twice.  Once  is  in 
the  parable  of  the  Pharisee  and  Publican ;  in  which,  after  the 
Pharisee  had  made  his  boasting  and  self-righteous  address  to  the 
Deity,  the  Publican  is  described  as  standing  afar  off ;  when,  not 
daring  to  lift  up  so  much  as  his  eyes  to  heaven,  he  only  smote 
his  breast,  saying,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner :"  upon 
which  the  Divine  Speaker  says,  "  I  tell  you  this  man  went  down 
to  his  house  justified  rather  than  the  other"  [Luke  xviii.  13,  14]  : 
where  his  Justification  is  obviously  ascribed  to  his  deep  hu- 
mility, his  profound  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness,  and  his  con- 
sequent sincere  repentance. 

-  The  other  place  in  which  the  Lord  himself  speaks  of  man's 


JUSTIFICATION. 


429 


Justification,  is  in  our  text  ;  where  He  says,  44  For  by  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be 
condemned."  But  what  are  the  words  which  have  this  justi- 
fying efficacy  ?  for  how  can  Justification  depend  upon  mere 
words  ?  The  preceding  verses  explain,  that  the  words  spoken 
of  are  those  which  proceed  out  of  the  treasure  or  storehouse  of  a 
good  man's  heart ;  and  thus  that  it  is  goodness  in  the  heart, 
which  is  the  same  thing  as  charity,  to  which  inmostly  belongs 
the  power  of  justifying  :  as,  also,  the  words  which  condemn  are 
those  which  proceed  from  an  evil  heart,  in  which,  therefore,  in- 
mostly lies  the  cause  of  condemnation. — 14  O,  generation  of 
vipers,  how  can  ye,  being  evil,  speak  good  things?  for  out  of  the 
abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh."  44  A  good  man  out 
of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart  bringeth  forth  good  things,  and 
an  evil  man  out  of  the  evil  treasure  bringeth  forth  evil  things. 
But  I  say  unto  you,  That  for  every  idle  word  that  men  shall 
speak,  they  shall  give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of  judgment : 
For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou 
shall  be  condemned"  [Matt.  xii.  34 — 37].  An  idle  word,  in 
Scripture  language,  is  not  merely  a  light  or  trifling  word,  but  a 
word  which  proceeds  from  an  evil  heart  or  intention,  and  which 
involves  a  false  and  uncharitable  judgment ;  as  a  further  inspec- 
tion of  the  context  would  show.  Everything  is  called  idle  or 
vain,  in  Scripture,  which  includes  no  principle  of  good.  Words 
then,  (in  which  term  are  included  thoughts,)  are  only  mentioned 
as  affording  the  criteria  for  justification  or  condemnation,  so 
far  as  they  are  indexes  of  good  or  evil  in  the  heart.  44  Out  of 
the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaJceth ;"  and  it  is  those 
words  only  ^hat  flow  directly  from  the  fulness  of  the  heart, 
which  are  here  spoken  of  as  determining  the  lot,  because  they 
indicate  the  character,  of  the  man :  and  to  words,  with  the 
thoughts  which  they  express,  proceeding  from  a  good  heart,  thus 
to  the  goo. I  heart  itself,  primarily  and  essentially, — is  ascribed, 
by  Infallibility,  the  power  of  Justification. 

This  illustrates  the  case  before  noticed,  of  the  justified  pub- 
lican. He  simply  uttered  the  words,  44  God  be  merciful  to  me 
a  sinner :"  but  as  the  Divine  Eye  saw  that  these  few  words 
proceeded  from  a  corresponding  affection  and  emotion  of  the 


430 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


heart, — were  a  real  index  of  sincere  repentance — of  a  will  turned 
from  evil  to  good, — Omniscience,  in  union  with  Infinite  Good- 
ness, which  are  the  first  of  the  Divine  attributes,  pronounces 
upon  the  humble  suppliant  the  sentence  of  Justification. 

These  examples  and  declarations  appear  amply  sufficient  to 
evince  how  greatly  Luther  erred,  when  he  laid  down,  as  the 
distinguishing  tenet  of  the  Protestant  Creed,  that  man's  Justi- 
fication is  by  Faith  alone :  indeed,  great  and  good  a  man  as 
Luther  was,  his  writings  but  too  plainly  evince  the  folly  of 
taking  him  as  an  infallible  guide  ;  for  many  indeed  are  the 
crudities  and  weaknesses  that  they  display.  The  system  of 
doctrines,  therefore,  which  I  have  feebly  endeavoured  to  elu- 
cidate in  these  Lectures,  as  those  of  the  True  Christian  Re- 
ligion, makes  an  important  addition  to  the  common  doctrine, 
derived  from  Luther,  on  the  subject.  This  system,  we  have 
seen,  maintains,  not  that  man  is  justified  by  faith  alone,  but  by 
faith,  charity,  and  good  works,  in  union.  Faith,  without  charity 
to  animate  it,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  declares,  is  nothing  [1  Cor. 
xiii.  2],  and,  as  the  Apostle  James  testifies,  is  dead  [Ep.  ii.  17]. 
Charity,  without  faith  to  direct  it  aright,  is  spurious  :  and  good 
works  not  proceeding  from  charity  and  faith  as  their  moving 
cause,  are  empty  husks,  good  only  in  outward  appearance. 

On  the  important  subject,  then,  of  Justification,  the  doctrines 
which  we  receive  as  those  of  the  True  Christian  Religion  take  a 
middle  path  between  the  extreme  introduced  by  Luther,  and 
the  opposite  extreme  which  had  previously  been  gone  into  by 
the  Church  of  Rome.  Because  Rome  had  ascribed  the  power  of 
Justification  to  merely  dead  works,  such  as  fastings  and  penances 
and  pecuniary  mulcts,  Luther  rejected  works  altogether,  and 
the  charity  also  which  should  be  the  soul  both  of  faith  and 
works.  Since,  however,  the  Reformation  has  made  them  more 
cautious,  the  Romanists  have  expressed  themselves  much  more 
justly  on  this  head  ;  and  candour  must  allow,  that  they  have, 
on  this  point,  greatly  the  advantage  over  their  Protestant 
adversaries. 

Within  these  twenty  years  past,  many  public  discussions  have 
been  held  between  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants,  upon  the 
chief  points  of  their  respective  creeds  :  a  Society  has  been 


JUSTIFICATION. 


431 


formed,  called  the  Reformation  Society,  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  carrying  on  the  controversy,  and  of  maintaining  the 
doctrines  introduced  at  the  Reformation  in  all  their  rigour ; 
and  great  is  the  interest  which  has  been  excited.  Such  dis- 
cussions may  ultimately  do  good  ;  not  by  converting  Protestants 
"into  Catholics  or  Catholics  into  Protestants,  though  in  both 
these  ways  some  consequences  have  resulted  ;  but  by  opening 
the  eyes  of  the  candid  and  considerate  in  both  denominations,  to 
the  extent  to  which  both  parties  have  departed  from  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Word  of  God.  On  the  subjects  of  the  withholding, 
by  the  Catholics,  of  the  Word  of  God  from  the  people,  of  their 
prayers  in  an  unknown  tongue,  of  their  worship  of  saints  and 
images,  of  their  prayers  and  masses  for  the  dead,  of  their  in- 
dulgences, their  purgatory,  and  their  many  other  superstitious 
practices  and  persuasions,  the  Protestants  have  an  immense 
superiority,  and  the  Catholics  have  nothing  to  offer  in  their 
defence  but  paltry  quibbles  and  evasions.  But  upon  what  the 
Protestants  themselves  call  the  grand  point  of  the  controversy, — 
the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith  alone, — the  Catholics  have 
greatly  the  advantage.  I  remember  a  meeting  of  this  kind,  at 
the  Freemason's  Hall,  London,  at  which,  as  on  many  other 
occasions,  this  was  fully  evinced.  Each  party  is  strong,  just  so 
far  as  they  have  the  Word  of  God  for  their  guide ;  but  where 
they  depart  from  the  Word  of  God,  (as  Luther,  in  a  passage  of 
his  writings  which  the  Romish  disputants  do  not  fail  to  bring 
forward,  acknowledges  that  he  did  [as  may  be  seen  in  the  note 
at  the  end  of  this  Lecture]  in  excluding  good  works  from  all 
share  in  man's  Justification,)  then  the  greatest  human  abilities 
become  weak  as  water.  According  to  the  sublime  symbol  in 
the  Revelation,  it  is  the  characteristic  of  the  Divine  Truth  of 
the  Word  of  God,  when  justly  seen  and  applied,  to  destroy 
opposing  false  conceptions  with  an  irresistible  force — "  he  that 
overcometh,"  it  is  said,  "  shall  rule  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron, 
— as  the  vessels  of  a  potter  shall  they  be  broken  in  pieces" 
[Rev.  ii.  26,  27].  A  rod  of  iron  is  the  constant  emblem,  in 
Scripture,  of  power  exerted  by  means  of  the  plain  truth,  such  as 
lies  obvious  in  the  letter  of  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  the  vessels  of 
the  potter  are,  in  like  manner,  constant  emblems  of  the  vain 


432 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


fictions  and  imaginations  of  men.  Hence  the  same  images  are 
applied  in  the  Psalms  to  the  redeeming  works  of  the  Lord  Him- 
self as  to  his  Humanity, — that  is,  of  the  Word  made  flesh:  of 
whom  it  is  said,  in  reference  to  his  combats  with  the  infernal 
powers,  and  the  false  persuasions  and  suggestions  with  which 
they  carried  on  the  conflict,  "  Thou  shalt  break  them  with  a 
rod  of  iron,  thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel" 
[Ps.  ii.  9]. 

But  we  will  examine  the  doctrine  a  little  more  particularly, 
with  the  arguments  both  of  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  for 
their  respective  views. 

In  order  to  account  for  the  effect  ascribed  to  faith  alone  in  pro- 
ducing man's  justification,  when,  it  is  obvious,  faith,  by  itself, 
cannot  make  a  person  either  just  or  good,  it  is  affirmed  by  the 
prevailing  doctrines  in  Protestant  countries,  that,  by  the  exercise 
of  this  faith,  the  righteousness  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  is 
imputed  to  the  sinner,  and  reckoned  as  the  actual  cause  of  his  jus- 
tification, just  as  if  it  really  were  his  own.  But  as  I  prefer,  when 
convenient,  to  mention  the  strange  sentiments  contained  in  gene- 
rally received  doctrines  rather  in  the  words  of  their  advocates, 
than  in  my  own,  I  will  state  some  of  the  particulars  of  this  doc- 
trine, and  of  the  arguments  in  support  of  it,  as  they  are  given  in 
a  sermon  on  the  subject,  preached  and  published  with  an  ex- 
press view  to  the  conversion  of  Roman  Catholics,  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Bickersteth,  an  eminent  clergyman  of  what  is  called  the 
Evangelical  party  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  one  of  the 
champions  of  the  Reformation  Society.  In  my  remarks,  also, 
upon  the  same,  I  shall  avail  myself  of  some  observations  in  an 
able  critique  upon  it  in  a  periodical  work. 

The  first  point  necessary  to  be  ascertained,  is,  the  meaning  of 
the  words,  "justify,"  and  "justification." 

The  verb  "  to  justify,"  according  to  its  form  in  English, 
would  signify,  from  etymology,  to  maJce  or  render  just :  and  the 
same  would  be  its  etymological  signification  in  the  original 
language  of  the  New  Testament.  This  is  an  argument  insisted 
on  by  the  Roman  Catholics.  However,  its  more  usual  accepta- 
tion certainly  is,  to  account  or  reckon  just.  It  is  therefore 
argued,  for  the  common  Protestant  doctrine,  that  to  justify,  in 


JUSTIFICATION. 


433 


the  New  Testament,  signifies  to  account  as  just,  or  righteous, 
whether  the  individual  so  esteemed  be  really  just  or  not.  But 
it  is  to  be  observed,  that  many  words  of  this  sort  have  a  two- 
fold acceptation,  according  as  they  are  applied  to  man  or  to  God. 
Thus  when  man  is  said  to  magnify  God,  it  is  not  meant  that 
man  makes  God  great,  but  that  he  makes  him  great  in  the  view 
of  others,  by  declaring,  or  acknowledging,  his  greatness.  But 
when  God  is  said  to  magnify  a  man,  as  is  declared  of  Joshua 
[ch.  iv.  14],  it  means  that  he  really  makes  him  great.  The  case 
is  the  same  in  regard  to  the  words  "glorify,"  "sanctify,"  and 
"justify." 

The  word  "justify"  undoubtedly  means,  in  its  judicial  sense, 
to  account  or  pronounce  just ;  and  that,  whether  the  judge  be 
human  or  Divine.  Human  judges  are  commanded  in  Scripture 
[Deut.  xxv.  1],  "to  justify  the  righteous  and  condemn  the 
wicked."  To  be  able  to  do  this,  they  must  first  examine  the 
case  by  external  evidence,  since  man  can  obtain  no  other,  and 
thence  pronounce  their  judgment.  But  the  Divine  Judge 
scrutinizes  the  heart  of  man,  ere  he  declares  him  guilty  or 
innocent.  He  ascertains  whether  or  not  a  real  righteousness 
is  present  there,  of  which  He  himself  has  been  the  Author; 
since  nothing  good  can  come  from  any  other  source.  If  this 
be  wanting,  the  man  cannot  be  pronounced  just  by  God,  who 
sees  all  things  as  they  really  are.  How  then  can  the  partial 
sense  of  the  word  "justify"  be  taken  when  applied  to  the 
Divine  Judge,  and  its  meaning  confined  to  the  pronouncing  of  a 
favorable  judgment,  whether  truly  or  not?  when,  in  the  case 
of  God,  such  judgment  cannot  be  erroneous,  and  can  only  be 
pronounced,  where  righteousness  has  previously  been  implanted 
by  Him. 

The  Scripture  use  of  the  term  will  appear  most  unquestionable 
from  a  few  quotations;  from  which  it  will  be  seen,  that  God,  in 
his  character  of  a  Judge,  justifies  or  pronounces  just,  the  man 
whom,  in  his  character  of  a  Saviour  from  sin,  he  has  previously 
justified, or  made  just.  Thus  we  read  in  Isaiah  [liii.  11],  "By 
his  knowledge  shall  my  righteous  servant  justify  many."  where, 
by  justifying  them,  is  obviously  signified,  making  them  just. 
28 


434 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


But,  as  is  declared  in  Exod.  [xxiii.  7],  he  "  will  not  justify  the 
wicked  ;"  plainly  assuring  us,  that  he  will  not  account  them  just 
who  really  are  wicked.  Yet  the  Apostle  declares  [Rom.  iv.  5], 
that  he  "justifieth  the  ungodly  ;"  which  can  mean  nothing  else, 
in  harmony  with  the  other  statement,  than  that  he  will  make 
the  ungodly  righteous,  and  will  then  account  them  as  such,  on 
their  turning  to  him,  and  believing  in  him. 

Between  the  act  of  a  human  judge  then,  and  of  the  Divine 
Judge,  in  justifying  the  righteous,  or  pronouncing  them  to  be 
such,  there  exists  a  most  perfect  analog}'.  The  human  judge 
pronounces  him  to  be  just  whom  he  believes  to  be  so ;  that  is, 
whose  conduct  he  believes  to  be  conformable  to  the  laws.  The 
Omniscient  Judge  pronounces  him  to  be  just  whom  he  knows  to 
be  so:  that  is,  whose  heart  and  conduct  he  perceives  to  be  con- 
formable to  his  Word.  Most  clearly  is  the  doctrine  stated  by 
the  beloved  disciple  John:  "Little  children,"  saith  he,  "let  no 
man  deceive  you :  he  that  doeth  righteousness,  is  righteous ; 
(or,  is  he  that  is  righteous)"  [1  Ep.  iii.  7]  ;  in  which  caution 
against  being  deceived,  he  might  be  thought  to  have  in  his  eye 
the  doctrine  of  the  present  day,,  when  it  teaches,  that  in  order 
to  a  man's  being  justified,  or  accounted  righteous,  his  really 
being  righteous,  or  "doing  righteousness,"  is  not  at  all  ne- 
cessary. It  is  also  to  be  remembered,  that  the  word  which  is 
translated  "  righteous,"  is  always  the  same,  throughout  the 
Scriptures,  as  that  which  is  translated  "just :"  when  therefore 
this  Apostle  says,  as  translated,  "  he  that  doeth  righteousness, 
is  righteous,'''1  he  equally  says,  he  that  doeth  righteousness  is 
just;  and  to  say  that  he  is  just,  really,  is  the  same  as  to  say, 
that  he  is  justified,  or  accounted  just,  by  God:  and  no  one,  as 
already  noticed,  can  either  be  really  just,  or  be  accounted  just 
by  God,  but  one  whose  righteousness  is  derived  from  God,  or 
whom  he  has  made  so. 

From  the  whole  of  these  observations  on  the  meaning  of  the 
word,  we  see  how  utterly  weak  is  the  argument,  that  because 
the  term  "justify,"  when  applied  to  a  human  judge,  will  not 
bear  the  sense  of  making  just,  but  only  of  pronouncing  just,  it 
must  be  taken  in  the  same  confined  sense  when  applied  to  God  ; 


JUSTIFICATION. 


435 


though,  in  respect  to  Him,  it  is  true  in  both  senses,  and  he  neither 
will,  nor  can,  pronounce  any  as  just,  but  those  whom  he  first  has 
made  just. 

It  will  be  perfectly  evident,  on  a  little  examination,  that  the 
Apostle  Paul  himself,  on  whom,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  the  other 
writers  of  the  New  Testament,  the  maintainers  of  Justification  by 
Faith  Only,  rely  for  the  support  of  their  doctrine,  speaks  of 
man's  being  justified  precisely  in  the  sense  in  which  we  have 
just  explained  the  word — as  denoting  both  the  making  just,  and 
the  accounting  just ;  and  only  the  accounting  of  those  to  be  just 
who  really  are  just.  Thus  he  says  to  the  Corinthians  [1  Ep.  vi. 
11],  "Ye  are  washed,  ye  are  sanctified,  ye  are  justified,  in  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God."  So  to 
the  Romans  [ch.  viii.  33]  he  says,  "  Whom  he  justified,  them  he 
also  glorified."  Can  any  one  doubt  for  a  moment,  that  when  he 
here  speaks  of  being  washed,  sanctified,  justified,  and  glorified, 
he  means,  made  clean,  made  holy,  made  just,  and  made  glorious? 
More  especially,  must  not  this  certainly  be  his  meaning  in  re- 
spect to  the  three  former  terms, — "  washed,"  "  sanctified,"  "jus- 
tified,"— when  he  describes  the  operations  they  express  as  being 
effected  by  the  Spirit  of  God, — or  as  being  what  he  elsewhere 
calls  "  the  work  of  the  Spirit?"  The  work  of  the  Spirit  doubt- 
less consists  in  making  man  clean,  holy,  and  just  or  righteous ; 
not  in  causing  him  to  be  reckoned  such  without  being  such  in 
reality. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that,  incompatibly  with  the  common 
Protestant  doctrine,  the  Apostle  here  places  justification  after 
sanctification.  This  evidently  proves,  that  justification  does  not 
go  before  sanctification,  but,  at  the'most,  that  it  only  accompanies 
it  with  equal  steps  :  the  fact  being,  that  man  is  neither  made  just, 
nor  accounted  just,  but  precisely  so  far  as  he  is  made  holy. 
Whereas  the  common  Protestant  doctrine  describes  him  as  being 
accounted  just,  by  the  imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness, 
through  faith,  in  a  moment,  before  his  sanctification,  or  becom- 
ing holy,  has  so  much  as  commenced  ;  this,  if  it  ever  takes  place 
at  all,  being  to  come  afterwards. 

Such  is  the  Protestant  doctrine  of  the  Justification  of  the  sin- 
ner before  God,  as  contrasted  with  the  doctrines  on  the  subject 


436 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


of  the  Scriptures  themselves.  And  this  doctrine,  as  before  re- 
marked, was  never  established  in  the  Church  till  the  time  of 
Luther.  It  is  a  fact  that,  upon  this  subject,  the  doctrines  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  are  far  more  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God. 

For  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  we  cannot  easily  have  a 
higher  authority  than  that  of  Bossuet,  the  celebrated  Bishop  of 
Meaux  ;  and  he  affirms,  that  "  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  only  imputed,  but  is  actually  communicated  to  his  faithful, 
by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  so  that  they  are  not  merely 
reputed,  but  are  really  made  just  by  his  grace." 

The  authorized  Roman  Catholic  Testament  has  this  note  upon 
the  passage  in  Paul  about  our  being  justified  by  faith  without 
the  works  of  the  law  :  "  The  faith,"  it  says,  "  to  which  the 
Apostle  here  attributes  man's  justification,  is  not  a  presump- 
tuous assurance  of  our  being  justified,  but  a  firm  and  lively  be- 
lief of  all  that  God  has  revealed  or  promised  (Heb.  xi.) ;  a  faith 
working  through  love  (Gal.  v.  16)  ;  in  short  a  faith  which  takes 
in  hope,  love,  repentance,  and  the  use  of  the  sacraments :  and 
the  works  which  he  here  excludes  are  only  the  works  of  the  law, 
that  is,  the  works  of  the  law  of  nature,  or  that  of  Moses  ante- 
cedent to  the  faith  of  Christ ;  but  by  no  means  such  as  follow 
faith  and  proceed  from  it."  Surely,  it  is  not  easy  much  to  im- 
prove this  explanation.  The  faith  here  described,  "  which  takes 
in  hope,  love,  and  repentance,"  is  not,  as  was  remarked  in  the 
former  part  of  this  Lecture,  the  single  and  separate  grace  of 
faith,  but  is  a  short  and  comprehensive  term  for  the  whole  of  the 
Christian  Religion. 

But  the  most  authentic  declaration  of  the  present  doctrines  of 
the  Roman  Catholics,  is  that  contained  in  the  decisions  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  their  great  standard  of  doctrine  :  and  the  de- 
cree of  that  council  upon  the  subject  of  Justification  is  to  this 
effect:  "•Justification  itself  is  not  only  a  remission  of  sins,  but 
sanctification  and  reformation  of  the  inner  man  by  a  voluntary 
reception  of  grace,  and  of  the  gifts  which  accompany  it ;  where- 
by a  man  from  unjust  is  made  just,  and  from  an  enemy  a  friend, 
that  he  may  be  made  an  heir  of  everlasting  life."  Assuredly, 
had  the  Council  of  Trent  never  decreed  anything  worse  than 
this,  the  separation  of  the  Protestants  from  the  Church  of  Rome 


JUSTIFICATION. 


437 


need  not  have  taken  place  :  As  it  was,  there  was  ample  reason 
for  that  great  measure,  and  we  can  never  be  too  thankful  that  it 
was  accomplished.  But  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation  took 
completely  wrong  ground,  when  they  made  their  grand  point  of 
distinction  the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith  Alone. 

Mr.  Bickersteth,  to  whom  we  are  obliged  for  these  extracts 
from  the  Roman  Catholic  authorities,  observes  upon  them  thus  c 
"Here  then  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Romish  Church:  they  assert 
that  sanctification  is  a  part  of  our  justification.  On  this  point, 
the  Protestant  Church  is  wholly  at  issue  with  them  ;  and  against 
this  doctrine,  we,  at  this  time,  solemnly  renew  our  protest ;  be- 
cause we  conceive  it  to  be  directly  contrary  to  multiplied  express 
testimonies,  and  to  laboured  and  lengthened  statements,  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  destructive  of  true  faith  and  godliness."  As 
he  states,  the  Romanists,  on  the  other  hand,  object,  that  the  doc- 
trine of  Justification  by  Faith  Only,  "  tends  to  loosen  the  obliga- 
tions of  morality,  and  to  weaken  the  restraints  of  iniquity." 
And  this  Reformation-Society's  Champion  allows,  that  "  at  first 
sight,  and  to  the  natural  man,  the  doctrine  may  have  this  appear- 
ance." Is  not  this  something  like  a  fatal  admission  '?  For  are 
not  all  men  natural  before  they  are  spiritual ?  All  men,  there- 
fore, at  the  most  momentous  part  of  their  Christian  course, — 
the  commencement, — are  liable  to  be  so  operated  upon  by  what 
is  called  the  doctrine  of  Justification,  as  that  it  will  appear  to 
them  to  have  a  tendency  to  anything  but  sanctification.  Is  not 
this  a  lamentable  consequence  of  separating  sanctification  from 
Justification  ?  Does  not  such  a  separation  appear  to  be  more 
"  directly  destructive  of  true  faith  and  godliness"  than  can  pos- 
sibly be  the  result  of  combining  them  together  ? 

But  the  manner  in  which  it  is  customary  to  represent  Justifi- 
cation, independently  of  sanctification,  as  being  so  necessary,  is, 
by  ascribing  to  man  an  utter  inability  to  keep  the  law  of  God, 
and  by  representing  the  law  as  demanding  eternal  damnation  as 
the  penalty  of  the  smallest  breach  of  it,  whether  the  transgressor 
afterwards  become  penitent,  and  repent  of  his  transgressions, 
or  not.  Thus  the  Author  we  have  referred  to  demands,  "  How 
can  sinful  man  be  just  with  the  Holy  God  ?  He  will  by  no 
means  acquit  the  guilty  ;  his  law  is  holy,  just,  and  good:  it  de- 


438 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


clares,  4  the  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die.'  1  Cursed  is  every  one 
that  continueth  not  in  all  things  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to 
do  ihem.'  A  law,"  he  adds,  "  necessarily  requires  perfect  con- 
formity to  it,  in  order  to  our  being  justified  by  it :  a  single  failure 
forfeits  the  blessing,  and  incurs  the  curse.  But  we  have  sinned  ; 
we  are  therefore  under  sentence  of  the  death  and  curse  of  the 
law.  The  wrath  of  Almighty  God  is  impending  over  us  :  How 
shall  we  escape  ?" 

Really,  it  is  surprising  how  men  can  read  the  Word  of  God, 
and  yet  give  such  representations  of  the  nature  of  the  law  of  God 
and  of  its  Divine  Author.  To  this  terrific  description  by  the 
champion  of  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  and  to  his 
demand,  "how  shall  we  escape?" — we  may  calmly  answer,  in 
the  words  of  the  Apostle  Peter,  "  Repent,  and  be  converted, 
that  your  sins  may  be  blotted  out"  [Acts  iii.  19].  Or  in  the 
parallel  words,  under  the  law  itself,  of  Jehovah  by  Ezekiel ;  a 
part  of  which,  without  this  sequel  (by  keeping  which  out  of 
sight,  and  quoting  the  commencement  to  establish  an  opposite 
doctrine,  the  remainder  is  falsified),  is  introduced  into  the  dread- 
ful description  just  recited  of  the  demands  of  the  law.  "  When 
I  say  unto  the  wicked,  Thou  shalt  surely  die:  if  he  turn  from 
his  sin,  and  do  that  which  is  lawful  and  right, — he  shall  surely 
live,  he  shall  not  die.  None  of  his  sins  which  he  hath  committed 
shall  be  mentioned  unto  him"  [Ch.  xxxiii.  14,  15,  16].  If  then 
we  may  escape  from  the  consequences  of  sin  by  true  repentance 
— by  a  change  of  mind  and  life, — is  it  not  going  much  too*  far  to 
say,  that  "  a  single  failure  forfeits  the  blessing  and  incurs  the 
curse," — brings  us  under  the  irrevocable  sentence  of  death  ?  In  this 
case,  as  all  have  sinned,  hardened  sinners  and  penitent  ones  are 
in  precisely  the  same  situation,  and  the  one,  as  to  his  eternal 
prospects,  is  no  better  nor  worse  than  the  other.  It  is  indeed 
true,  that  while  man  is  in  sin,  he  is  in  a  state  of  spiritual  death  -r 
— he  is  under  the  curse  ;  which,  in  the  language  of  Scripture, 
means,  in  a  state  averted  from  the  Source  of  blessing  ;  his  sin 
separates  between  him  and  his  God.  But  let  him  turn  from  his 
sin,  and  he  at  the  same  time  turns  from  the  curse ;  and  his  re- 
pentance occasions  joy,  even  in  heaven  :  for  the  angels  know 
that  repentance  is  not  ineffectual. 


JUSTIFICATION. 


439 


Behold  a  plain,  and  true,  and  Scriptural  doctrine  of  Justifi- 
cation. It  is  a  deplorable  perversion  of  Scripture  to  affirm,  that 
in  order  to  man's  Justification  through  obedience  to  the  law  of 
God  (performed  from  the  motives  suggested  by  faith),  perfect, 
that  is,  undeviating  conformity  to  the  divine  law,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  life,  is  indispensable, — that  all  is  lost, 
if  one  transgression  be  incurred.  Were  this  the  case,  repent- 
ance, so  often  mentioned  in  Scripture,  were  a  vain  and  empty 
word,  and  the  repeated  calls  to  it*were  unfeeling  mockery  : 
whereas,  even  the  law  itself  makes  provision  for  the  restoration 
of  the  sinner  on  his  repentance. 

Our  Protestant  Advocate,  however,  assuming  all  that  he  has 
said  about  the  demands  of  the  law  to  be  unanswerable,  makes 
the  sinner  exclaim,  "I  am  in  this  tremendous  condition:  lam 
under  the  load  of  guilt :  1  am  impotent  to  fulfil  even  present 
duty  :  O,  how  can  I  be  justified  ?"  But  where  is  the  sinner 
taught  that  he  is  impotent  to  fulfil  even  present  duty  ?  Have 
not  the  glad  tidings  yet  reached  his  ears,  that,  as  the  Evangelist 
assures  us  [John  i.  12],  power  to  become  "sons  of  God,"  is 
given  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "to  as  many  as  receive  him?" — 
that  as  Jesus  Christ  declares  himself,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  given  to 
them  that  ask  for  it  [Luke  xi.  13]  ? — that  the  Lord's  yoke  is 
easy  [Matt.  xi.  30]  ?  and  that  his  commandments  are  not 
grievous  [1  John  v.  3]  ?  Let  the  sinner,  according  to  the  di- 
rection of  the  Apostle  Peter,  "purify  his  soul  in  obeying  the 
truth,  through  the  spirit,"  and  he  will  attain  "unto  unfeigned 
love,"  "being  born  again,  of  incorruptible  seed  by  the  Word  of 
God"  [1  Ep.  i.  22,  23],  and  then  he  will  find,  according  to 
the  declaration  of  Paul,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  "the  Author  of 
eternal  salvation  to  all  them  that  obey  him"  [Heb.  v.  9].  The 
Apostle  Paul,  also,  speaks  clearly  [Rom.  vi.  16]  of  "obedience 
unto  righteousness."  He  that  attains  righteousness,  or  justice, 
is  justified  ;  and  if  by  Christian  obedience,  then  by  Christian 
works. 

But  our  champion  for  Justification  by  Faith  Only  instructs  us, 
that,  to  sinners,  the  righteousness  of  Christ  is  reckoned  theirs, 
through  faith  in  him  ;  and  that  those  who  believe  the  testimony 
of  God  concerning  Jesus  Christ  are  justified  ;  their  faith  also 


440 


LECTURE  XXVI. 


being  the  gift  of  God.  He  informs  us,  that  the  very  term 
"  impute"  ( reckon  ox  account )  might  guard  us  against  the  error 
of  supposing  that  we  are  really  righteous,  in  consequence  of 
being  accounted  so  by  God.  And  he  quotes  the  Church  of 
England  homily  on  Salvation,  which  says,  that  "  now  every  true 
Christian  man  may  be  called  a  fulfiller  of  the  law ;  for,  as  much 
as  their  infirmity  lacketh,  Christ's  righteousness  hath  supplied." 

On  hearing  such  statements,  who  can  help  exclaiming,  in  the 
language  of  the  Church  or*England  Articles,  This  is  indeed  "  a 
doctrine  very  full  of  comfort  ?"  Had  I  any  Roman  Catholics 
before  me,  I  should  be  tempted  to  exclaim  further,  How  can  ye 
refuse  to  swallow  the  delicious  opiate  ?  Is  not  this  far  preferable 
to  your  lacerating  scourges,  your  mortifying  fasts,  your  laborious 
pilgrimages?  Not  only  are  these  "commandments  of  men" 
set  aside  for  your  accommodation,  but  the  declaration  of  the 
Great  Being  who  said,  "If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the 
commandments"  [Matt.  xix.  17]  ;  and  of  his  beloved  disciple, 
who  said,  "Let  no  man  deceive  you:  he  that  doeth  righteous- 
ness is  righteous"  [1  John  iii.  7]  ;  and,  "He  that  saith,  I  know 
him,  and  keepeth  not  his  commandments,  is  a  liar,  and  the  truth 
is  not  in  him"  [Ch.  ii.  4]  : — all  are  annulled  together !  By 
simply  believing  the  testimony  of  Scripture  concerning  Jesus 
Christ,  his  infinite  righteousness  may  be  "  made  over"  (this  is 
the  technical  phrase,)  to  you  ;  and  although  you  do  not  come 
into  possession  of  it  really,  God  will  reckon  it  as  yours,  which 
will  do  quite  as  well :  and  whenever  you  feel  that  you  want  abso- 
lution, instead  of  seeking  your  priest,  you  have  only  to  exercise, 
anew,  faith  in  the  testimony,  and  all  that  you  want  again  be- 
comes yours.  Indeed  as  the  imputed  righteousness  is  infinite, 
your  lack  of  personal  righteousness  can  easily  be  made  up, 
whether  such  lack  be  little,  or  much,  or  total.  Surely  you  can 
have  no  objection  to  renounce  the  Romish  for  the  Protestant  faith 
thus  attractively  exhibited  :  unless,  indeed,  you  should  perceive, 
that  the  tendency  of  this  doctrine,  is  to  slacken  the  obligations 
to  moral  obedience  ;  to  lull  the  conscience  to  sleep  ;  to  contradict 
all  experimental  knowledge  of  the  frame  of  the  human  mind  ; 
and  to  render  the  Word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  men's 
traditions.    In  this  case,  notwithstanding  you  may  still  cleave 


JUSTIFICATION. 


441 


to  your  useless  mummeries  and  vain  expiations,  you  will  apply 
to  such  teachers  and  doctrines  the  words  of  Jehovah  by  the  pro- 
phet :  "  They  have  healed  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my  people 
slightly,  saying,  Peace,  peace  ;  when  there  was  no  peace"  [Jer. 
viii.  11].  And  should  you,  as  you  easily  may,  become  convinced 
of  the  many  corruptions  which  have  really  been  introduced  into 
the  Church  of  Rome,  you  will  not  therefore  feel  bound  to  em- 
brace the  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith  Only  :  but  you  will 
endeavour  to  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  under  the  gui- 
dance of  the  Word  of  God. 

My  Christian  and  rational  brethren  !  this  is  the  mode  of  pro- 
cedure which  I  would  affectionately  recommend  to  you  all. 
Imagine  not  that  the  truth  is  exclusively  possessed  either  by 
Roman  Catholics  or  Protestants,  but  examine  the  Word  of  God 
for  yourselves.  You  will  pardon  me,  I  trust,  for  the  strong 
picture  that  I  have  laid  before  you  of  the  popular  doctrine  of 
Justification  :  I  have  done  it  in  the  discharge  of  what  I  believe 
to  be  my  duty,  without  any  personal  disrespect  towards  any  one, 
but  with  a  sincere  desire  for  the  best  interests  of  all.  Depend 
upon  it,  Jesus  Christ  never  came  to  justify  you  in  your  sins, 
but  to  enable  you  to  turn  from  your  sins,  and  to  become  just 
or  righteous,  through  the  communication  of  grace  from  him, 
and  thus  to  be  really  justified.  And  do  not  delay  the  necessary 
work  of  turning  to  him  too  long.  Death-bed  repentances  are 
never  to  be  depended  upon,  and  man  can  neither  become  just, 
nor  be  justified,  in  one  moment.  We  read  of  some  who  began 
to  labour  in  the  Lord's  vineyard  so  late  as  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
and  who  received  a  generous  reward  :  but  we  read  of  none  who 
received  a  reward  at  the  twelfth  hour,  without  having  ever 
laboured  at  all.  If  such  cases  are  at  all  possible,  they  must  be 
very  rare,  and  can  only  exist  under  very  peculiar  circum- 
stances. Trust  not  to  such  a  chance.  Set  about  the  works  re- 
quired of  you  by  your  Heavenly  Father  while  it  is  called  to-day  : 
Turn  to  him  in  sincerity,  with  faith  in  his  Manifestation  of 
himself  in  the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ.  Then,  through  his  mercy 
and  redemption,  former  iniquities  will  be  blotted  out,  you  will 
receive  a  real  righteousnes  from  him  which  will  be  imputed  to 


442  LECTURE  XXVI. 

you  as  your  own,  and  you  will  obtain  the  blessing  of  actual 
Justification. 


Note  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  Lecture,  page  431. 

At  the  page  mentioned,  I  have  stated,  that  "Luther,  in  a  pas- 
sage of  his  writings  which  the  Romish  disputants  do  not  fail  to 
bring  forward,  acknowledges  that  he  did  [depart  from  the  Word 
of  God]  in  excluding  good  works  from  all  share  in  man's  justifi- 
cation;"  and  I  had  before  ventured  to  say,  that  "his  writings 
but  too  plainly  evince  the  folly  of  taking  him  for  an  infallible 
guide,  for  many  indeed  are  the  crudities  and  weaknesses  which 
they  display"  [P.  430].  In  support  of  these  statements,  I  take 
the  following  Note,  by  the  Editors,  to  the  Critique  on  Mr.  Bicker- 
steth's  "Discourse  on  Justification  by  Faith,"  in  the  Intellectual 
Repository  for  April,  1828,  pages  79  et  seq  ;  to  which  I  am  obliged 
for  most  of  the  facts  and  arguments  contained  in  the  latter  por- 
tion of  the  preceding  Lecture  : 

"As  an  example  of  the  advantage  which  Prctestants  give  to 
Romanists  by  their  doctrine  of  faith  alone,  and  as  a  further 
specimen  of  the  writings  of  Luther,  we  subjoin  the  following 
extract  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Grady,  one  of  the  Romanist 
advocates,  at  a  recent  discussion  between  the  two  parties  at 
Freemason's  Tavern.  He  said,  '  They  (the  Catholics)  were 
charged  with  superseding  the  atonement  of  Christ  by  masses 
and  works  of  supererogation  :  but — he  would  show  them  what 
the  absolute  doctrine  of  the  atonement  led  to.  He  would  read 
a  passage  or  two  from  the  writings  of  the  grand  Apostle  of  the 
Reformation,  Martin  Luther,  on  this  subject,  in  the  first  volume 
of  his  works,  published  at  Wittemberg,  folio  147  :  1  Though  the 
'Papists  [writes  Luther]  bring  heaps  of  Scriptures,  as  command- 
'ing  good  works,  yet  I  care  not  for  them,  though  they  bring 
'more.  Thou,  Papist,  art  very  brag  with  thy  works  and  Scrip- 
'ture  ;  yet  Scripture  is  a  servant  of  Christ ;  therefore  it  moves 
'me  nothing.  Rely  thou  upon  the  servant:  I  will  rely  upon  the 
'  Master  and  Lord  of  Scripture  :  to  him  I  yield  ;  and  I  know 


JUSTIFICATION. 


443 


4  he  will  not  lead  me  into  error.  I  will  rather  adhere  to  him, 
1  than,  for  all  Scriptures,  to  be  altered  a  hair's  breadth  from  my 

•  opinion.'  [But  where,  except  in  the  Scriptures,  are  we  to  find 
the  mind  of  Him  whom  he  calls  the  Master  and  Lord  of  Scrip- 
ture ?  He  seems  to  claim  some  private  revelation  not  derived 
through  the  Scriptures,  and  in  plain  contrariety  to  them. — S.  N.] 
As  to  the  Ten  Commandments  [Mr.  Grady  continues],  he  ex- 
presses himself  thus :  '  Therefore  the  Ten  Commandments  do 
'  not  belong  to  us  Christians,  but  only  to  Jews  :  which  is  proved 

•  out  of  the  text,  speaking  to  them  whom  he  brought  out  of  Egypt, 
'  who  were  Jews,  not  Christians.  We  will  not  admit  that  any 
1  the  least  precept  of  Moses  be  imposed  upon  us.  Therefore  look 
1  that  Moses  with  all  his  law  be  sent  packing,  in  malam  rem — 
'  with  a  mischief, — and  that  thou  be  not  moved  with  any  terror 
'  of  him,  but  hold  him  suspected  for  a  heretic,  cursed  and  damned, 
1  and  worse  than  the  pope  or  the  devil.'  '  He  [Mr.  Grady]  need 
not  tell  them  that  this  man  was  the  Apostle  of  the  Reformers, 
though  they  called  Wickliffe  their  morning  star.  [He  then  read 
some  extracts  from  Wesleyan  and  other  writers,  particularly 
from  Richard  Hill,  Esq.  and  Mr.  Wesley :  after  which  he  pro- 
ceeded] :  These  then  were  the  reformers — this  the  Justification 
by  Faith  !  It  was  hard  to  say  which  was  more  horrible, — the 
curse  of  Luther  upon  Moses,  or  the  Wesleyan  blasphemies 
against  the  justice  of  God.' — Mr.  Grady  afterwards  said,  '  The 
doctrine  of  faith  without  works  was  a  most  horrid  and  pernicious 
doctrine.'  In  allusion  to  a  remark  of  Mr.  McNeile's,  he  exclaim- 
ed, '  The  genius  of  the  Gospel  displayed  on  the  death-bed  of  a 
thief  and  a  murderer  !  He  knew  not  that  Society  could  exist  for 
one  hour  under  the  influence  of  this  glorious  idea.'  None  of  the 
Protestant  champions,  who  spoke  after  Mr.  Grady  encountered 
him  on  this  point,  though  some  of  them  ably  exposed  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  Romanists  in  their  suppression  of  the  Scriptures  and 
the  worship  of  saints  and  angels."  To  this  I  will  add, — No  won- 
der that  these  discussions  convince  so  few  on  either  side,  when 
each  party  can  bring  such  unanswerable  arguments  against  the 
other. 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  DOCTRINE  OF  A  PLURALITY  OF  WORLDS 
IRRECONCILABLE  WITH  THE  POPULAR  SYSTEMS  OF  THEOLOGY, 
BUT  IN  PERFECT  HARMONY  WITH  THE  TRUE  CHRISTIAN  RE- 
LIGION. 


John  x.  16. 

"  And  other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of  this  fold :  them  also  I  must 
bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice  :  and  there  shall  be  one  fold, 
and  one  Shepherd." 

Before  we  close  this  series  of  Lectures,  I  will  call  your  at- 
tention to  a  most  interesting  subject,  on  which  some  of  the 
doctrines  that  we  have  considered,  viewed  as  we  have  presented 
them,  cast  a  most  pleasing  effulgence,  removing  all  theological 
difficulties  which  oppose  the  admission  of  its  reality  and  cer- 
tainty ;  and  which,  in  its  turn,  goes  far  to  confirm  the  truth  of 
those  doctrines,  as  advocated  in  our  previous  Lectures,  as  the 
genuine  decisions  of  the  True  Christian  Religon.  The  subject 
to  which  I  allude  is  that  of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds, — the  belief, 
that  the  planets  of  our  Solar  System,  and  those  which  are  sup- 
posed to  revolve  round  the  innumerable  other  solar  orbs  in  the 
universe,  are  Inhabited  Earths,  peopled  by  rational  beings, 
essentially  the  same  in  nature  as  the  Human  Race.  The  de- 
sign of  this  Lecture,  then,  shall  be  to  evince,  That  whilst  the 
Astronomical  Doctrine  of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds  is  irreconcilable 
with  the  Popular  Systems  of  Theology,  it  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  True  Christian  Religion. 

Science  has  advanced,  during  modern  and  recent  times,  with 
very  extraordinary  steps,  and  has  developed  truths  of  which 
former  ages  had  no  conception.    In  no  respect  is  the  addition 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  445 


thus  made  to  the  mass  of  human  knowledge  more  conspicuous 
and  striking,  than  in  the  sublime  speculations  and  demonstra- 
tions of  Astronomy.  And  the  most  magnificent  of  the  facts 
which  the  assiduity,  sagacity,  and  improved  means  of  observa- 
tion, of  modern  astronomers  have  brought  to  light,  is  the  almost 
overwhelming  discovery,  that  the  globe  on  which  we  dwell  is 
not,  as  untutored  and  unassisted  nature  would  imagine,  the  only 
inhabited  earth  in  the  universe,  but  is  merely  one  among 
thousands,  and  myriads,  and  millions,  of  worlds.  I  speak  of  this 
as  a  fact,  and  a  discovery.  I  do  not  mean  that  Astronomy  can 
teach  us  the  existence  of  other  inhabited  earths,  with  the  same 
kind  of  evidence  as  that  by  which  she  demonstrates  the  motions 
of  this  planetary  system.  The  other  earths  which  the  telescope 
can  actually  show  us  are  but  few,  and  no  glasses  have  power  to 
bring  their  inhabitants  within  the  sphere  of  our  vision.  Yet 
presumptive  proof  is  afforded  in  abundance,  and  of  a  kind  little 
less  convincing  than  absolute  demonstration  ; — such  proof,  in 
fact,  as  only  that  mind  can  resist,  which  has  opinions  of  another 
kind,  esteemed  of  still  greater  moment,  to  uphold, — which  dreads 
to  admit  the  most  elevating  truths  of  Science,  under  the  appre- 
hension that  it  must  renounce,  in  exchange  for  them,  the  saving 
truths  of  Revelation. 

For  it  is  but  too  true,  (and  none,  I  trust,  will  take  offence  at 
my  making  the  observation,)  that  while  natural  knowledge  has 
been  advancing  with  such  rapid  steps,  divine  knowledge  has 
long  remained  stationary,  if  it  have  not  become  absolutely  re- 
trograde. The  system  of  Divinity  at  present  generally  esta- 
blished was  formed,  as  to  its  substance,  in  the  darkness  of  the 
middle  ages.  As  has  been  intimated  in  previous  Lectures, 
though  the  light  of  the  Reformation  from  Popery  was  about 
co-eval  in  its  rise  with  the  revival  of  learning,  the  dogmas  which 
were  then  established  evince  but  too  plainly,  that  the  improve- 
ments which  were  beginning  to  be  made  in  natural  knowledge, 
were  accompanied  by  but  a  very  moderate  share  of  discernment 
in  spiritual  subjects.  The  consequence  has  been,  that,  as  Science 
has  advanced,  she  has  in  a  great  measure  thrown  off  the  cha- 
racter, which  is  that  of  her  highest  dignity,  of  the  handmaid  of 
Theology.    Instead  of  continuing  the  faithful  and  useful  servant 


446  LECTURE  XXVII. 

of  her  former  august  mistress,  she  has,  in  the  estimation  of  too 
many,  been  set  up  as  her  rival ;  and  numbers  who  have  pro- 
fessed to  venerate  her,  including,  doubtless,  many  of  her  sincere 
admirers,  have,  in  consequence,  unavoidably  been  led  to  regard 
Theology  with  contempt.  Nor  has  this  arisen  from  any  fault  of 
Science  in  itself.  True  Science  is  the  knowledge  of  the  works 
of  God  in  the  domains  of  nature;  and  it  is  impossible  that  the 
highest  attainments  in  this  knowledge  can  discover  any  thing 
inimical  to  true  Theology,  which  is  the  knowledge  of  God  him- 
self, and  of  his  works  in  the  kingdoms  of  grace.  If  the  Scrip- 
tures also,  be  truly  the  Word  of  God,  it  is  impossible  that  there 
can  be  any  real  contradiction  between  them  and  his  works.  It 
is,  however,  only  between  true  Theology  and  true  Science  that 
there  can  be  any  just  correspondence  ;  and  while  the  latter  must 
ever  attend,  as  an  humble  handmaid,  on  the  former,  she  will- 
also,  as  a  loyal  subject,  expose  the  pretensions  of  every  intruder 
that  would  usurp  the  throne  of  her  legitimate  queen. 

But  a  word  of  caution  may  here  be  expedient.  Before  any 
doctrine  commonly  accepted  as  a  truth  of  Religion  is  rejected  on 
the  testimony  of  Science,  it  behooves  us  to  be  most  thoroughly 
satisfied  that  Science  has  spoken  out.  Science  has  her  fallacies 
as  well  as  Theology  ;  which  have  quite  as  often,  and  perhaps  as 
long,  imposed  on  the  understandings  of  mankind.  Many  are 
the  ridiculous  fancies,  which,  under  the  name  of  Science,  have 
had  their  advocates  and  their  admirers.  Nevertheless,  when 
Science  presents  a  fact  which  is  demonstrably  true,  or  which  is 
deduced  from  demonstrated  facts  by  rational  inference  not  less 
clear  and  convincing,  we  may  be  certain  that  no  religious  doc- 
trine which  is  totally  irreconcilable  with  it,  can  be  a  truth  of 
genuine  Theology.  But  here  another  caution,  equally  im- 
portant with  the  former,  also  becomes  necessary.  When  any 
truth  of  Science  irresistibly  militates  against  a  certain  doctrine 
of  Theology,  we  are  not  to  conclude  that  it  militates  equally 
against  the  Holy  Scriptures,  from  which  such  doctrine  is  re- 
puted to  be  drawn.  That  the  Scriptures  are  truly 'entitled  to  be 
received  as  the  Word  of  God,  is  demonstrable  by  ^evidence  quite 
as  convincing  as  any  that  can  be  given  for  the  first  truths  of 
Science  ;  [as  the  Author  has  endeavoured  to  show  in  the  work 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  447 

entitled,  "  The  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  Asserted," 
-&c]  All  that  is  proved,  then,  when  any  positive  truth  of  Sci- 
ence is  found  to  be  inconsistent  with  any  received  doctrine  of 
Theology,  is,  that  the  doctrine  impugned  is  a  tenet  of  false 
Theology,  not  justly  deduced  from  the  Scriptures ;  and  that  the 
texts  on  which  it  is  supposed  to  be  founded  are  misunderstood 
and  falsified.  When  such  discrepancies  between  the  truths  of 
Science  and  commonly  received  doctrines,  are  used  as  argu- 
ments against  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures  themselves,  it  is  com- 
monly done  by  men  whose  enmity  to  Divine  Revelation  arises 
from  other  sources  :  though  such  difficulties  also  minister  occasion 
of  great  anxiety  and  doubt  to  the  humble  and  sincere. 

Such  then  has  been  the  case,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  with 
the  astronomical  doctrine  of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds.  From  the 
time  of  its  first  introduction,  among  the  moderns,  till  the 
present  day,  it  has  been  seen,  by  those  who  are  called  orthodox, 
to  be  not  fairly  reconcilable  with  the  doctrines  prevailing  in  the 
Christian  world,  on  the  cause,  nature,  and  design,  of  the  coming 
in  the  flesh  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  and  although  the  strong 
evidence  which  it  carries  with  it  has  obtained  for  it  almost 
general  adoption  among  the  vulgar  as  well  as  among  the 
learned,  yet  many  of  the  stricter  disciples  of  the  popular  system 
of  theology  have  entered  their  earnest  caveat  against  it.  When 
Sir  I.  Newton  published  his  Principia,  in  which  the  true  theory 
of  the  planetary  motions,  previously  propounded  by  Copernicus, 
is  clearly  demonstrated,  and  thus  the  existence  of  a  plurality  of 
worlds  in  the  visible  universe  is  made  in  the  highest  degree  prob- 
able, the  learned  and  ingenious  Mr.  Hutchinson  published, 
in  opposition,  a  work  which  he  denominated  the  Principia  of 
Moses  :  in  which  he  endeavours  to  establish,  as  a  point  both  of 
science  and  religion,  the  antiquated  doctrine  that  this  is  the  only 
inhabited  natural  earth :  and  though  his  system  is  extremely 
intricate,  and  perplexed  with  great  difficulties,  it  has  been  follow- 
ed by  many  learned  persons  even  till  the  present  times, — 
mainly  because  the  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds  was  felt  by 
them  to  be  incompatible  with  certain  favorite  tenets  of  modern 
Christianity.  On  this  account,  even  so  eminent  a  man  as  the 
late  Lord  President  Forbes  endeavors,  in  his  works,  to  dis- 


448 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


countenance  the  opinion  that  the  heavenly  bodies  were  created 
for  any  other  purpose  than  their  use  to  this  earth.  Even  so 
recently  as  when  the  Astronomical  doctrine  was  advocated  by 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Chalmers,  and  endeavored  to  be  combined 
with  a  belief  in  the  common  system  of  theology,  a  very  ingenious 
volume,  full  of  multifarous  reading,  was  published  in  answer ; 
the  author  of  which  strongly  reprehended  the  admission  by 
Christian  divines  of  the  popular  astronomical  doctrine  on  the 
ground  of  its  absolute  irreconcilableness  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement,  and  its  consequent  tendency,  as  he  conceived,  to 
nothing  but  absolute  Deism  :  and  so  many  of  the  professing 
Christian  world  agreed  with  him  in  sentiment,  that  two  editions 
of  his  work  were  called  for  [See  note  A]. 

What  the  plain  and  honest  believers  in  the  popular  system  of 
theology  have  seen  to  be  involved  in  the  doctrine  of  a  plurality 
of  worlds,  the  Deists  have  plainly  enough  seen  also ;  and,  as- 
suming the  doctrines  usually  taught  as  those  of  Christianity  to 
be  those  of  the  Scriptures  themselves,  they  have  not  failed  to 
urge  this  astronomical  truth  as  a  demonstrative  argument 
against  the  truth  of  the  Chistian  Religion  and  of  Divine 
Revelation.  The  notorious  infidel,  Paine,  in  his  usual  style  of 
dogmatism  and  arrogance,  is  pleased  to  say,  "  The  system  of  a 
plurality  of  worlds  renders  the  Christian  faith  at  once  little  and 
ridiculous,  and  scatters  it  in  the  mind  like  feathers  in  the  air. 
The  two  beliefs  cannot  be  held  together  in  the  same  mind  :  and 
he  who  thinks  he  believes  both,  has  thought  but  little  of  either." 
Affirmed  of  the  Christian  faith  as  it  is  in  itself,  these  assertions 
are  most  scandalously  false:  but  affirmed  of  the  Christian  faith, 
as  it  is  commonly  represented,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they 
have  but  too  much  foundation  in  truth.  Surely  then  it  is  time 
that  a  view  of  Christianity  should  be  made  known  which  rescues 
the  Christian  faith  from  this  reproach, — which  restores  the 
agreement  between  the  doctrines  of  Theology  and  the  truths  of 
Science, — and  which  exhibits  the  works  of  God  in  redemption, 
as  completely  worthy  of,  and  fully  co-extensive  with,  his  works 
in  creation.  When  erroneous  conceptions  of  Christianity  are 
compelled  to  quail  before  the  boasts  of  presumptuous  Infidelity, 
— as  Saul  and  his  hosts  lay  cowering  in  their  tents  at  the 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  449 


dreaded  voice  of  the  champion  of  Gath ;  it  is  fit  that  purer 
sentiments  should  be  permitted,  though  despised  and  repelled 
like  David,  to  undertake  the  conflict.  It  is  genuine  Truth  alone 
that  can  say,  with  no  misgivings  at  heart,  11  Who  is  this  uncir- 
cumcised  Philistine,  that  he  should  defy  the  armies  of  the  living 
God?" 

I  might  here  entertain  you  by  offering  a  sketch  of  the  modern 
astronomical  theory  of  the  universe,  which  would  afford  ample 
matter  to  interest  both  your  imagination  and  your  feelings  : 
but  as,  in  the  limits  which  I  must  observe  in  a  single  Lecture,  I 
could  do  no  more  than  present  a  very  general  outline  :  and  as, 
besides,  minute  scientific  details  would  be  out  of  place  in  a 
theological  discourse ;  I  forbear  to  dwell  upon  this  attractive 
part  of  the  subject.  It  has  been  done  at  great  length,  and 
under  various  forms  of  eloquent  amplification,  in  the  popular 
Discourses  of  Dr.  Chalmers.  All  the  knowledge  of  the  subject 
requisite  for  our  present  purpose,  is  to  be  found  in  every  ele- 
mentary work  upon  astronomy.  I  presume,  therefore,  that  it  is 
perfectly  familiar  to  you  all.  As,  however,  something  appears 
necessaiyr  to  be  stated,  as  a  base  for  our  subsequent  observations, 
I  will  make  an  extract  or  two  from  an  author  with  whom  few 
are  acquainted,  which  contain,  in  the  compass  of  a  nutshell,  all 
the  arguments  in  behalf  of  a  plurality  of  worlds  which  are 
spread  over  so  wide  a  space  by  Chalmers  ;  while  they  offer  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  cause  of  the  mighty  phenomenon,  which 
others  have  entirely  overlooked,  and  which  render  the  whole  dis- 
covery as  delightful  in  the  eye  of  piety  as  it  is  obvious  to  the  eye 
of  science. 

The  author  I  am  about  to  quote,  is  the  much  slandered 
Emanuel  Swedenborg ;  who  is  too  often  made  the  object  of 
ridicule  and  misrepresentation  by  the  unthinking  and  uninformed, 
though  he  will  ever  command  the  esteem  of  the  reflecting  and 
the  truly  wise,  when  they  have  duly  examined  his  system. 
He  states  the  question  thus  :  "  Any  man  of  an  enlarged  under- 
standing may  conclude,  from  various  considerations,  that  there 
is  a  plurality  of  earths,  and  that  they  are  inhabited  by  human 
creatures.  It  is  a  suggestion  of  reason,  that  so  great  masses  of 
matter  as  the  planets  are,  some  of  which  far  exceed  this  earth  in 
29 


450 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


magnitude,  are  not  empty  balls  created  only  to  revolve  round  the 
sun,  and  to  transmit  their  scanty  measure  of  light  for  the  benefit 
of  this  earth  ;  but  that  their  use  must  needs  be  more  enlarged  and 
eminent.  He  who  believes,  as  every  one  ought  to  believe,  that 
the  Deity  created  the  universe  for  no  other  end,  but  that  the 
human  race,  and  thereby  heaven,  might  have  existence  (for  the 
human  race  is  the  seminary  of  heaven),  must  needs  believe  also, 
that  wheresoever  there  is  an  earth,  there  are  human  inhabitants. 
That  the  planets  which  are  visible  to  our  eyes,  as  being  within 
the  boundaries  of  this  solar  system,  are  earths,  may  appear 
manifest  from  this  consideration  :  that  they  are  bodies  of  earthy 
matter;  because  they  reflect  the  light  of  the  sun,  and,  when 
seen  through  a  telescope,  they  do  not  appear  as  stars,  glittering 
like  flame,  but  as  earth,  variegated  with  opaque  spots.  The 
same  may  appear  further  from  this  consideration  :  that  they, 
like  our  earth,  perform  their  revolutions  around  the  sun,  through 
the  path  of  the  zodiac ;  whence  they  have  their  years,  and 
seasons  of  the  year,  as  spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter ; 
and,  in  like  manner,  that  they  revolve  about  their  own  axis : 
whence  they  have  their  days,  and  times  of  the  day,  as  morning, 
noon,  evening,  and  night.  Some  of  them,  also,  have  moons  called 
their  satellites,  which  perform  their  revolutions  round  them,  as 
the  moon  does  round  our  earth.  The  planet  Saturn  also,  as 
being  so  distant  from  the  sun,  has,  beside  his  moons,  a  large 
luminous  belt,  which  supplies  by  reflection  much  light  to  that 
earth.  How  is  it  possible  for  any  reasonable  person,  acquaint- 
ed with  these  facts,  to  imagine  that  such  bodies  are  void,  and 
without  inhabitants  ?"  These  remarks  apply  to  the  planets 
or  earths  which'  we  see  with  our  eyes  belonging  to  our  solar  sys- 
tem :  but  with  respect  to  other  suns  and  their  dependant  earths 
the  same  author  delivers  his  views  thus  :  "  That  there  is  a  plurali- 
ty of  systems,  also,  may  appear  from  this  consideration  :  that  so 
many  stars  are  seen  in  the  universe  ;  and  it  is  known  to  the 
learned  that  every  star  is  like  a  sun  in  its  own  place,  remaining 
fixed  as  the  sun  of  our  earth  does  in  its  place  ;  and  that  it  is 
only  owing  to  its  distance  that  it  appears  small  like  a  star  ;  con- 
sequently, that  each  star,  like  the  sun  in  our  system,  hath  planets 
revolving  round  it,  which  are  so  many  earths  :  and  that  the 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  451 

reason  why  those  planets  or  earths  are  not  seen,  is,  because  of 
their  immense  distance,  and  of  their  having  no  light  but  what 
they  receive  from  their  own  star  or  sun,  which  cannot  be  re- 
flected so  far  as  to  reach  us.  For  what  other  end  or  purpose, 
can  we  imagine,  so  great  a  firmament  was  created,  with  so  many 
stars?  The  end  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  is  man,  in  order 
that  an  angelic  heaven  might  be  formed  of  human  beings :  but 
what  would  be  the  race  of  men,  and  an  angelic  heaven  thence 
formed,  drawn  from  one  single  earth,  to  an  Infinite  Creator  ? 
To  him,  a  thousand,  yea,  a  myriad  of  earths,  would  be  as 
nothing.  It  has  been  calculated,  that  supposing  there  were  in 
the  universe  a  million  of  earths,  and  on  every  earth  three  hun- 
dred millions  of  men,  and  two  hundred  generations  to  exist 
within  six  thousand  years,  and  that  to  every  man  or  spirit  were 
allotted  a  space  of  three  cubic  ells,  the  sum  of  men  or  spirits 
collectively  would  not  occupy  a  space  equal  to  a  thousandth  part 
of  this  earth, — consequently  not  more  than  the  space  possessed 
by  one  of  the  satellites  of  Jupiter  or  Saturn  ;  which  would  be  a 
space  so  diminutive  in  respect  to  the  universe,  that  it  would  be 
scarce  discernible.  What  would  this  be  in  regard  to  the  Crea- 
tor of  the  universe,  to  whom  the  whole  universe,  though  filled 
with  earths,  would  be  inadequate  :  for  he  is  Infinite  ?"  He 
dwells  a  little  more  on  the  end  or  design  of  the  visible  creation 
in  another  short  passage  :  "Eveiy  considerate  person  is  led  to 
conclude,  that  so  immense  a  whole  as  is  formed  by  the  starry 
heaven,  must  needs  be  a  means  to  some  end,  which  is  the  last 
end  of  creation  ;  which  end  is,  a  heavenly  kingdom,  wherein 
God  may  dwell  with  angels  and  men.  The  visible  universe,  or 
the  heaven  resplendent  with  stars  so  innumerable,  which  are  so 
many  suns,  is  only  a  means,  or  medium,  for  the  existence  of 
earths,  and  of  men  upon  them,  out  of  whom  may  be  formed  a 
heavenly  kingdom.  From  these  considerations  every  reasonable 
person  must  be  led  to  conceive,  that  so  immense  a  means,  adapt- 
ed to  so  great  an  end,  was  not  constituted  for  a  race  of  men 
from  one  earth  only,  and  for  a  heaven  thence  derived  :  for  what 
would  this  be  to  the  Deity,  who  is  infinite,  and  to  whom  thou- 
sands, yea  myriads  of  earths,  all  full  of  inhabitants,  are  com- 
paratively little,  and  scarce  of  any  amount"  [See  Note  (B).]  ! 


452 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


Behold,  my  brethren,  the  true  cause  of  the  immensity  of  the 
universe !  though  too  generally  overlooked  by  writers  on  the 
subject.  Viewed  with  reference  both  to  their  origin  and  their 
design  or  end,  the  plurality  of  worlds  which  science  discovers, 
will  not  be  found  inconceivable  to  the  man  of  religion  and 
piety.  Can  anything  be  too  great,  to  be  the  work  of  a  God  who 
is  Infinity  itself,  and  all  whose  attributes  are  infinite  like  him- 
self? Can  any  multiplicity  of  worlds  be  too  numerous,  which 
are  created  to  furnish  inhabitants  for  his  heavenly  kingdom, — 
to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  his  infinite  love,  and  the  desire  which 
such  love  must  ever  feel, — to  communicate  good  and  blessing,  to 
continually  increasing  multitudes,  for  ever  and  ever?  Take  this 
idea  with  you,  and  the  mystery  is  solved.  This  conception  ad- 
mits us,  as  it  were,  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  divine  purposes  :  and 
when  we  behold  these,  and  contemplate  their  ineffable  benevo- 
lence, instead  of  doubting  either  whether  God  could  or  would 
create  such  a  multitude  of  inhabited  worlds,  our  only  impulse 
must  be,  to  glorify  and  bless  his  all-gracious  name  for  having 
done  so. 

This  view  of  the  cause  of  there  being  such  a  plurality  of 
worlds,  also  removes  that  sense  of  loneliness  and  destitution 
which  a  single  human  being  might  be  apt  to  feel  on  the  con- 
templation of  the  fact,  viewing  himself  as  lost,  as  it  were,  in 
this  immensity  of  creation.  Deists  argue  from  it. the  improba- 
bility of  any  special  interference  whatever,  on  the  part  of  the 
Maker  of  such  a  universe,  in  behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of  this 
speck  of  a  globe,  and  seem  to  imagine  that  any  individual,  as 
being  but  one  among  such  an  inconceivable  number,  must  be 
entirely  overlooked,  and  left  to  wander  with  no  director  but 
himself.  Too  many  wish  it  to  be  so,  and  therefore  they  be- 
lieve it !  But  who  does  not  see,  that  while  they  here,  on  the 
one  hand,  exalt  the  infinity  of  the  Creator,  by  acknowledging 
his  works  to  be  so  boundless,  they  as  much  detract  from  it,  on 
the  other,  by  supposing  that,  though  he  can  make  rational  crea- 
tures without  limit,  he  must  forget  them  as  soon  as  they  are 
made,  and  cannot  take  cognizance  of  one  individual,  or  of  all 
those  of  one  earth,  as  easily  as  of  the  whole  united  assemblage? 
The  greater,  it  is  true,  that  the  Creator  appears  in  the  eyes  of 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  453 


man,  the  greater  roust  be  man's  sense  of  his  own  insignificance 
in  comparison  ;  and  if  he  have  any  devotional  feelings,  the  greatej^ 
must  be  his  humility  and  his  devotedness  of  adoration.  This  is 
most  beautifully  and  affectingly  expressed  by  the  pen  of  inspi- 
ration :  "  When  I  consider  the  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers, 
the  moon  and  the  stars  which  thou  hast  ordained  ;  What  is  man, 
that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the  son  of  man  that  thou 
visitest  him?"  [Psalm  viii.  3,  4.]  Here  is  acknowledgment 
of  the  Lord's  greatness,  and  of  man's  comparative  littleness,  join- 
ed with  the  recognition  of  the  Lord's  care  and  goodness,  and  with 
gratitude  and  adoration  on  that  account.  But  when  this  ac- 
knowledgment of  man's  nothingness  compared  with  his  Creator, 
and  of  his  insignificance  in  contrast  with  the  whole  extent  of 
creation,  is  combined  with  a  knowledge  of  the  cause  and  reason 
of  the  creation  being  so  boundless, — that  it  was  so  formed  that 
it  might  be  the  seminary  of  a  heaven  commensurate,  as  far  as 
possible,  with  the  Infinite  Love  of  its  author, — in  which  God 
himself  should  dwell  with  the  whole  assembled  multitude  of  the 
saved  of  the  human  race  drawn  from  all  worlds  ; — then,  instead 
of  feeling  any  sense  of  being  lost,  or  of  forlornness,  or  of  danger 
of  being  overlooked  in  so  immense  an  assemblage,  we  derive, 
from  this  knowledge  of  the  end,  an  assurance  that  the  same 
Love  is  present  with  each  of  us,  watching  over  us,  and  endea- 
vouring to  lead  us,  in  such  ways  as  are  consistent  with  the  ne- 
cessary freedom  of  our  nature,  into  the  grand  end,  and  that  it 
is  ever  ready  to  supply  whatever  means  may  be  requisite  for  its 
accomplishment.  To  imagine  that  he  who  created  any  particu- 
lar world,  or  any  particular  man,  will  afterwards  leave  either 
that  world  or  that  man  without  farther  attention,  because  he  has 
so  much  more  to  attend  to,  is  still  more  to  deny  his  infinity  than 
is  done  by  imagining,  that  he  never  created  any  other  world 
than  this.  It  is  to  deny  the  infinity  of  his  Love,  the  infinity  of 
his  Wisdom,  his  Omnipotence,  his  Omniscience,  and  his  Omni- 
presence. How  much  wiser  are  they  who  are  taught  by  Reve- 
lation !  "  Thou  hast  beset  me  behind  and  before,  and  laid  thy 
hand  upon  me.  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  spirit "?  or  whither 
shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence  ?  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven, 
ihou  art  there  :  if  I  make  up  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art 


454 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


there.  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  dwell  in  the  ut- 
termost parts  of  the  sea  ;  even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 
and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me"  [Ps.  cxxxix.  5,  7 — 10].  The 
man  who  hast  just  conceptions  of  his  Maker  and  of  himself, 
knows  full  well  that  God  dwells  in  every  individual  soul  that 
ever  he  has  formed  as  really  as  in  the  whole  created  universe. 
Subsistence,  also,  in  the  creed  of  true  philosophy,  is  perpetual 
existence  ;  preservation  is  perpetual  creation  :  wherever,  there- 
fore, anything  whatever  is,  there  also  is  the  presence  of  its  Crea- 
tor still  upholding  it  in  life  or  being. 

I  have  made  these  observations  with  the  view  of  showing,  that 
the  Christian  need  not  be  scared  at  the  astronomical  doctrine  of 
a  plurality  of  worlds,  as  if  it  launched  him  into  an  ocean  of  need- 
less magnificence,  where  he  was  in  danger  of  losing  the  pro- 
tecting hand  of  his  God.  But  some,  perhaps,  may  wish  to  in- 
quire if  there  is  any  express  testimony  of  Scripture  which  bears 
upon  the  question. 

If  the  inquiry  go  to  this  effect:  Whether  the  Scriptures  teach 
that  there  are  numerous  worlds  in  the  universe :  it  must  be  an- 
swered, That  the  Scriptures  nowhere  teach,  directly,  mere  truths 
of  science,  and  were  not  given  for  any  such  purpose.  But  if 
they  do  not  directly  declare  there  to  be  a  plurality  of  worlds, 
they  deliver  much  which  well  combines  with  the  belief  of  that 
discovery  of  science,  and  nothing  which  contradicts  it.  They 
tell  us  that  God  "  made  the  stars ;"  and  they  nowhere  define 
what  the  stars  are  [See  Note  C.].  They  teach  also  very  plainly 
that  nothing  was  created  in  vain,  and  that,  supposing  there  to 
be  other  earths  beside  this,  they  must  have  inhabitants.  Mag- 
nificently is  this  declared  in  Isaiah  :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  that 
created  the  heavens  ;  God  himself  that  formed  the  earth  and 
made  it ;  he  hath  established  it,  he  created  it  not  in  vain,  he 
formed  it  to  be  inhabited"  [Ch.  xlv.  18].  If  he  formed  this 
earth  to  be  inhabited,  and  if  to  have  done  otherwise  would  have 
been  to  create  it  in  vain,  the  same  must  be  true  of  every  other 
earth  in  the  universe.  There  are  various  passages,  also,  which 
evince,  that  whatever  other  worlds  there  may  be  in  the  universe, 
they  are  as  much  dependant  as  this,  for  their  existence  and  the 
eternal  welfare  of  their  inhabitants,  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christo. 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  455 

By  him,  the  Apostle  Paul  declares,  God  "  made  the  worlds" 
[Heb.  i.  2.  See  Note  D.]  ;  and  John  affirms  respecting  him,  as 
the  eternal  Word  before  the  incarnation,  that  "  All  things  were 
made  by  him,  and  without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that 
was  made"  [Ch.  i.  3].  As  then  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  stands 
connected  with  all  worlds  in  the  character  of  their  maker,  so 
does  he  likewise  in  the  character  of  Redeemer.  The  passage  I 
have  taken  as  a  text  may  be  applied  to  this  subject ;  for  though 
it  does  not  necessarily  refer  to  human  beings  not  natives  of  this 
world,  it  implies,  that,  if  there  are  such  other  human  beings, 
Jesus  Christ  will  gather  them  into  his  fold, — take  them  under 
his  care  and  protection  : — "  Other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of 
this  fold :  them  also  I  must  bring ;  and  they  shall  hear  my 
voice ;  and  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd."  But 
there  are  several  passages  in  the  Epistles  which  speak  of  the 
gathering  together  in  one  of  all  things  in  Jesus  Christ,  in  such 
a  manner  as  necessarily  includes  the  natives  of  all  earths  in  the 
universe.  The  apostles  do  not  expressly  say  that  there  is  a 
plurality  of  worlds  in  outward  nature ;  but  they  use  expressions 
which  come  very  near  to  such  an  assertion,  and  which  fully 
evince,  that,  a  plurality  of  worlds  being  otherwise  proved,  all 
must  be  gathered  into  the  fold  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Thus, 
in  one  place,  God  is  spoken  of  as  "  Having  made  known  unto  us 
the  mystery  of  his  will,  according  to  his  good  pleasure  which  he 
hath  purposed  in  himself;  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness 
of  times  he  might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ, 
both  which  are  in  the  heavens  and  which  are  on  earth"  [Eph.  i. 
9,  10].  In  another  place,  the  Apostle  speaks  of  his  preaching 
"  to  make  men  see  what  is  the  fellowship,  [according  to  the 
most  correct  reading  of  the  original  dispensation, ]  of  the  mys- 
tery, which  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  hath  been  hid  in 
God,  who  created  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  intent  that 
now  unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places  might 
be  known  by  the  Church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  according 
to  the  eternal  purpose  which  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord"  [Chap.  iii.  9 — 11].  So  he  says  in  the  next  chapter  of 
the  same  Epistle,  that  our  Lord  "  ascended  up  far  above  all 
heavens,  that  he  might  Jill  all  things'''  [Ch.  iv.  10].    So,  to  the 


456 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


Colossians,  he  speaks  of  the  universality  of  his  work  of  atone- 
ment or  reconciliation,  in  a  manner  that  must  include  every 
world  that  is  anywhere  existing:  his  words  are,  "It  pleased  [the 
Father]  that  in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell :  and  having  made 
peace  by  the  blood  of  his  cross,  by  him  to  reconcile  all  things  to 
himself;  by  him,  I  say,  whether  they  be  things  in  earth  or  things 
in  heaven"  [Ch.  i.  19,  20].  Such  language  as  this,  though  it 
does  not  affirm  a  plurality  of  worlds,  excepting  heavenly  ones, 
necessarily  includes  them  if  they  exist.  It  proves  that  the  be- 
nefit of  of  the  assumption  by  Jehovah  of  Humanity  in  the  person 
of  Jesus  Christ  extends  throughout  the  whole  universe  of  crea- 
tion, how  immense  soever  may  be  the  amplitude  of  its  domain. 

We  find  then,  clearly  established  by  science,  and  confirmed, 
or,  at  least,  not  contradicted  by  Scripture,  the  majestic  fact, 
that  there  is  an  indefinite  plurality  of  worlds  in  the  universe. 
It  is  also,  we  see,  declared  explicitly  by  Scripture,  that  there  is 
nothing  whatever  in  the  universe,  of  which  Jesus  Christ,  as  the 
eternal  Word  prior  to  his  incarnation,  was  not  the  Maker,  and 
that  the  beneficial  effects  of  his  appearing  in  human  nature  ex- 
tend to  all  beings  in  existence.  But  is  this  last  proposition  also 
consonant  to  reason  and  science  ?  Is  the  fact  itself  of  the  appear- 
ance on  this  earth  of  the  Eternal  Word,  who  is  God  with  God, 
and  one  with  the  Father,  consistent  with  such  a  plurality  of 
worlds  as  reason  and  science  demonstrate  to  exist?  Infidels 
declare  that  it  is  not,  and  make  it  a  pretence  for  rejecting  the 
authority  of  Divine  Revelation.  This  brings  us  to  the  part  of 
our  argument  which  comes  nearest  home  to  our  interests  as  im- 
mortals, and  to  our  feelings  as  Christians. 

What  is  there,  then,  in  the  doctrine  of  the  appearance  in  the 
world  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  not  consonant  to 
reason  and  science, — which  is  irreconcilable  with  the  astrono- 
mical doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds, — and  which,  therefore, 
infidels  allege  as  a  pretence  for  rejecting  Divine  Revelation  ?  I 
answer  without  hesitation,  The  inconsonance  and  irreconcilable- 
ness  only  lie  in  the  view  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  appear- 
ance in  the  world  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  presented 
as  the  doctrine  of  the  Christian  Religion  in  the  popular  systems 
of  theology.    But  permit  me  to  say  again,  as  I  have  said  in 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  457 

former  Lectures,  with  all  tenderness  for  the  feelings  of  those 
•who  may  think  differently,  that  this  is  not  really  the  doctrine 
of  the  Christian  Religion,  but  is  purely  a  mistaken  conception, 
which  has  been  allowed  to  obscure  the  true  doctrine  of  the 
Christian  Religion  upon  the  subject,  and  to  seize  its  place. 
True  Science  disowns  the  usurper,  but  maintains  due  allegiance 
to  her  legitimate  mistress.  The  astronomical  doctrine  of  the 
plurality  of  worlds  does  indeed  demonstrate  the  falsity  of  the 
erroneous  notion  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  appearance  in 
human  nature  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  but  this,  with  every 
other  real  truth  of  science,  harmonizes  most  perfectly  with  every 
doctrine  of  the  True  Christian  Religion.  Thus,  instead  of  weak- 
ening the  authority  of  Divine  Revelation,  the  belief  of  a  plurality 
of  worlds  actually  combines  with  and  supports  it.  It  only  widens 
the  base  of  the  grand  pyramid  of  Knowledge :  and  the  broader 
the  dimensions  of  the  foundation  composed  of  the  truths  of 
Science,  the  greater  is  the  elevation  obtained  for  the  summit  in 
which  are  located  the  truths  of  Theology, — the  more  are  these 
exalted  above  the  region  of  mists  and  deceptive  appearances, 
and  irradiated  with  the  pure  brilliancy  of  the  light  of  heaven. 

The  Deist  argues,  that  if  there  are  so  many  myriads  of  earths 
in  the  universe,  it  is  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  God  should  make 
this  little  world  the  chief  object  of  his  care,  and  should  actually 
assume  Humanity  in  it  himself,  to  die  as  an  atoning  sacrifice  for 
the  sins  of  its  inhabitants.  Such  a  proposition,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, is  rather  startling,  to  be  sure  :  and  if  the  doctrine  of 
the  Scriptures  could  be  proved  to  be,  that  it  was  for  the  benefit 
of  the  inhabitants  of  this  world  alone,  that  Jehovah  was  pleased 
to  become  incarnate  among  them,  the  improbability  of  such  an 
event  would  be  very  great  indeed.  Though  his  Providence  is 
over  all  worlds,  and  his  loving-kindness  extends  to  every  in- 
dividual in  each,  the  perfect  order  and  all-embracing  universality 
of  his  known  modes  of  operation  forbid  the  supposition,  that  the 
greatest  and  most  wonderful  of  all  his  mighty  acts  of  beneficence 
was  a  scheme  that  concerned  but  a  single  point  in  the  universe. 
Yet,  most  certainly,  the  doctrine  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the 
incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  set  forth  in  the  creeds  of  almost 
all  the  professing  churches  at  this  day,  is  such  as  confines  it  to 


458 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


the  circumstances  of  this  earth  alone.  That  doctrine  is,  that,  in 
consequence  of  the  sin  of  Adam,  as  the  first  man,  all  his  pos- 
terity fell  under  a  curse  which  devoted  them  to  death  or  misery 
eternal :  but  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  took  the  curse  upon 
himself,  paid  the  penalty  of  the  sin  of  Adam  and  all  his  posterity 
in  his  own  person,  thus  appeased  the  wrath  of  the  Father,  and 
satisfied  his  offended  justice  and  the  demands  of  the  law,  and  so 
became  the  Author,  to  those  who  believe  that  he  has  done  this, 
of  life  and  salvation.  This,  and  no  other,  is  truly  the  doctrine 
of  all  the  prevailing  Churches  at  the  present  day  :  and  this,  un- 
deniably, makes  the  assumption  by  God  of  Humanity  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  measure  which  arose  out  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  this  world  alone,  and  the  proper  benefits  of  which 
can  belong  to  none  but  the  lineal  descendants  of  Adam.  Join 
this  with  the  fact  of  which  Astronomy  assures  us,  that  all  the 
descendants  of,  Adam  are  (to  borrow  an  illustration  from  Dr. 
Chalmers)  but  as  a  single  leaf  to  a  whole  forest,  compared  with 
the  natives  of  all  the  worlds  in  the  creation,  and  the  doctrine 
becomes  invested  with  such  improbability  as  to  be  justly  in- 
credible. Accordingly,  we  have  seen  that  the  most  strict  and 
consistent  believers  of  the  common  doctrine  of  the  nature  and 
design  of  the  Lord's  appearance  on  earth,  have  held  themselves 
bound  to  reject  the  belief  of  a  plurality  of  worlds,  and  have 
joined  the  Deist  in  avowing  that  both  beliefs  cannot  exist  to- 
gether. 

The  time  however  is  long  past  since  the  denial  by  a  few  con- 
sistent persons  of  one  of  the  most  important  and  most  con- 
vincing of  the  discoveries  of  Science,  could  answer  the  purpose 
of  protecting  the  theological  tenet,  whose  incompatibility  with 
it  is  thus  avowed.  The  belief  of  the  astronomical  doctrine  has 
spread  over  the  minds  of  all  the  population  of  Christendom  like 
a  flood,  and  it  is  in  vain  to  endeavour  again  to  shut  out  the 
overwhelming  waters.  The  conviction  which  it  brings  with  it  of 
its  truth  is  so  strong,  that  almost  every  person  who  has  received 
the  commonest  rudiments  of  education  deems  it  absolutely  cer- 
tain :  and  the  inevitable  consequence  is,  that  either  an  improved 
view  of  the  nature  and  design  of  the  Lord's  birth  in  this  world 
must  be  accepted,  or  there  must  be  an  immense  increase  of 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  459 

infidelity.  Divines  have  for  some  time  been  sensible  that  some- 
thing must  be  done  to  remove  the  obvious  irreconcilableness  of 
the  two  doctrines,  and  have  made  some  attempts  for  the  purpose, 
even  to  the  extent  of  new  dressing  out  the  theological  tenet  in  a 
manner  which  Luther,  Calvin,  and  all  the  early  reformers  would 
have  denounced  as  heresy  ;  and  yet  they  have  retained  so  much 
of  the  common  view  of  the  subject,  as  to  make  their  labours  a 
motley  piece  of  patchwork,  utterly  incapable  of  satisfying  either 
the  consistent  believer  in  religion  or  the  most  candid  among  its 
opponents.  It  was  because  the  celebrated  Dr.  Chalmers  under- 
took to  remove  the  difficulty,  in  his  "Discourses  on  the  Chris- 
tian Revelation,  viewed  in  connexion  with  the  modern  Astro- 
nomy," and  disguised  the  weak  points  of  his  argument  by  the 
splendour  of  his  style,  that  his  work  attained  such  extraordinary 
popularity  :  ]  most  professors  of  religion  felt  the  dilemma,  and 
were  ready  to  hail  any  thing  with  joy,  which,  without  taking 
away  their  favourite  tenets  in  theology,  appeared  in  any  degree 
to  remove  it.  But  though  Dr.  Chalmers'  talents  must  ever 
entitle  him  to  great  respect,  it  can  hardly  be  denied  that  his 
efforts  to  remove  it  were  completely  nugatory.  He  professes, 
indeed,  not  to  allow  that  Christianity  is  designed  for  the  single 
benefit  of  our  world,  and,  with  many  taunts,  defies  the  Deist  to 
prove  it :  but  how  it  contributes  to  the  benefit  of  the  inhabitants 
of  other  earths  and  systems,  he  leaves  the  Infidel  to  discover  for 
himself ;  he  deigns  not  to  assist  his  benighted  intellect  by  a 
single  suggestion  that  could  really  lead  to  a  solution  of  his  dif- 
ficulties. He  affirms,  in  general,  vague,  and  shadowy  terms, 
that  a  benefit  may  have  been  conferred  on  the  whole  creation : 
but  when  he  offers  anything  positive  and  definite,  he  keeps 
within  the  precincts  of  this  world  only.  All  that  he  suggests  in 
the  way  of  advantage  to  the  natives  of  other  earths,  from  the 
incarnation  of  our  Lord  among  us,  is,  that  it  must  supply  them 
with  argument  for  admiration,  and  for  devout  and  pleasing 
contemplation  :  and  even  this  stands  upon  the  perfecdy  gra- 
tuitous assumption,  that,  while  we  have  been  left  so  completely 
in  the  dark  respecting  the  state,  and  even  the  existence,  of 
other  earths,  they  are  most  minutely  informed  respecting  the 
condition  and  transactions  of  this  !    He  never  attempts  to  es- 


460 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


tablish  the  fact,  which,  alone,  the  man  of  reason  would  deem 
worthy  of  attention, — that  the  redemption  wrought  here,  was 
equally  the  redemption  of  the  universe  : — doubtless,  because  he 
saw  that,  for  redemption  to  be  thus  universal,  it  must  be  of  a 
very  different  kind  from  that  which  the  popular  creed  has  taught 
him.  The  following  is  a  specimen  of  his  manner  of  describing 
the  grand  mystery,  and  its  use  to  the  (as  he  supposes)  innocent 
and  holy  inhabitants  of  other  worlds. 

"  Surely,  surely,  where  delight  in  God  is  the  constant  enjoy- 
ment, and  the  earnest  contemplation  of  God  is  the  constant 
exercise,  there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  compass  of  nature  or  of 
history,  that  can  so  set  his  adoring  myriads  upon  the  gaze,  as 
some  new  and  wondrous  evolution  of  the  character  of  God. 
Now  this  is  found  in  the  plan  of  our  redemption  ;  nor  do  I  see 
how  in  any  transaction  between  the  great  Father  of  existence, 
and  the  children  who  have  sprung  from  him,  the  moral  attri- 
butes of  the  Deity  could,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  be  put  to 
so  severe  and  so  delicate  a  test.  It  is  true,  that  the  great 
matters  of  sin  and  of  salvation,  fall  without  impression  on  the 
heavy  ears  of  a  listless  and  alienated  world.  But  they  who,  to 
use  the  language  of  the  Bible,  are  light  in  the  Lord,  look  other- 
wise at  these  things.  They  see  sin  in  all  its  malignity,  and 
salvation  in  all  its  mysterious  greatness.  Ay,  and  it  would  put 
them  on  the  stretch  of  all  their  faculties,  when  they  saw  re- 
bellion lifting  up  its  standard  against  the  Majesty  of  heaven, 
and  the  truth  and  the  justice  of  God  embarked  on  the  threaten- 
ings  he  had  uttered  against  all  the  doers  of  iniquity,  and  the 
honours  of  that  august  throne,  which  has  the  firm  pillars  of 
immutability  to  rest  upon,  linked  with  the  fulfilment  of  the  law 
that  had  come  out  from  it ;  and  when  nothing  else  was  looked 
for,  but  that  God  by  putting  forth  the  power  of  his  wrath  should 
accomplish  his  every  denunciation,  and  vindicate  the  inflexi- 
bility of  his  government,  and  by  one  sweeping  deed  of  vengeance, 
assert,  in  the  sight  of  all  his  creatures,  the  sovereignty  which 
belonged  to  him — Oh  !  with  what  desire  must  they  have  pon- 
dered on  his  ways,  when  amid  the  urgency  of  all  these  demands 
which  looked  so  high  and  so  indispensable,  they  saw  the  unfold- 
ings  of  the  attribute  of  mercy — and  that  the  Supreme  Lawgiver 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  461 

was  bending  upon  his  guilty  creatures  an  eye  of  tenderness — 
and  that  in  his  profound  and  unsearchable  wisdom,  he  was  de- 
vising for  them  some  plan  of  restoration — and  that  the  eternal 
Son  had  to  move  from  his  dwelling-place  in  heaven,  to  carry  it 
forward  through  all  the  difficulties  by  which  it  was  encompassed 
— and  that,  after  by  the  virtue  of  his  mysterious  sacrifice,  he  had 
magnified  the  glory  of  every  other  perfection,  he  made  mercy 
rejoice  over  them  all,  and  throw  open  a  way  by  which  we,  sinful 
and  polluted  wanderers,  might,  with  the  whole  lustre  of  the 
Divine  Character  untarnished,  be  re-admitted  into  fellowship 
with  God,  and  be  again  brought  within  the  circle  of  his  loyal  and 
affectionate  family."  [Discourses,  p.  140 — 142,  tenth  edition]. 
These  are  the  views  which,  in  these  popular  discourses,  are  re- 
iterated over  and  over  again.  Redemption  is  a  plan  for  recon- 
ciling the  divine  attribute  of  goodness  with  that  of  vindictive  jus- 
tice, and  for  redeeming  the  character  of  the  Almighty  from  the 
disgrace  (I  shudder  while  I  say  it)  which  according  to  the  popu- 
lar system  of  theology  would  attach  to  it,  were  he  to  indulge  in 
the  exercise  of  mercy,  without  first  inflicting  somewhere  the  ex- 
treme amount  of  the  penalty  of  guilt. 

[Read  over  again  the  preceding  extract,  and  say  whether  it 
does  not  fully  coincide  with  the  statements  I  have  given  of  the 
popular  doctrine  in  preceding  Lectures]. 

The  objection  as  to  the  fewness  of  those  for  whom  this  salva- 
tion was  actually  wrought,  is  answered  by  a  slight  modification 
of  the  same  general  considerations.  "  Yes,"  says  the  eloquent 
discourser,  "  it  [this  earth]  is  but  a  twinkling  atom  in  the 
peopled  infinity  of  worlds  that  are  around  it — but  look  at  the 
moral  grandeur  of  the  transaction,  and  not  to  the  material 
extent  of  the  field  upon  which  it  was  executed — and  from  the 
retirement  of  our  dwelling  place,  they  may  issue  forth  such  a 
display  of  the  Godhead,  as  will  circulate  the  glories  of  his  name 
amongst  all  his  worshippers.  Here  sin  entered.  Here  was  the 
kind  and  unwearied  beneficence  of  a  Father,  repaid  by  the  in- 
gratitude of  a  whole  family.  Here  the  law  of  God  was  dis- 
honoured, and  that  too  in  the  face  of  its  proclaimed  and  un- 
alterable sanctions.  Here  the  mighty  contest  of  the  attributes 
was  ended — and  when  justice  puts  forth  its  demands,  and  truth 


462 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


called  for  the  fulfilment  of  its  warnings,  and  the  immutability  of 
God  would  not  recede  by  a  single  iota  from  any  one  of  its  posi- 
tions, and  all  the  severities  he  had  ever  uttered  against  the  child- 
ren of  iniquity  seemed  to  gather  into  one  cloud  of  threatening 
vengeance  on  the  tenement  that  held  us — did  the  visit  of  the  only 
begotten  Son  chase  away  all  these  obstacles  to  the  triumph  of 
mercy — and  humble  as  the  tenement  may  be,  deeply  shaded  in 
the  obscurity  of  insignificance  as  it  is  among  the  statelier  mansions 
which  are  on  every  side  of  it — yet  will  the  recall  of  its  exiled 
family  never  be  forgotten — and  the  illustration  that  has  been 
given  here  of  the  mingled  grace  and  majesty  of  God,  will  never 
lose  its  place  among  the  themes  and  acclamations  of  eternity." 
LIbid.  p.  153,  154.] 

[Again  I  ask,  Does  not  this  go  the  full  length  of  the  statements 
given  of  the  received  doctrine  in  preceding  Lectures  ?] 

[But]  strip  all  this  of  its  magniloquent  diction,  and  how  poor 
are  the  ideas  which  remain !  how  unsatisfactory  to  the  eye  of 
reason  does  it  appear — if  reason  should  venture  to  look  through 
declamation  which  appeals  solely  to  the  feelings — considered  as 
presenting  the  mode  of  the  redemption  of  this  world  only !  but 
how  utterly  weak  is  the  apology  which  it  offers  for  the  common 
doctrine  of  the  design  and  use  of  the  Lord's  incarnation,  when 
viewed  in  connexion  with  the  existence  of  myriads  of  other 
earths  !  Certainly,  such  a  defence  of  "  the  Christian  Revelation, 
viewed  in  connexion  with  the  modern  Astronomy,"  as  these 
"  Discourses"  supply,  amounts  to  little  less  than  absolute  be- 
trayal of  the  cause.    [See  note  E.] 

Other  writers,  such  as  Dr.  Beattie,  Dr.  Porteus,  and  Dr. 
E.  Nares,  have  handled  the  same  argument.  Some  of  these  have 
suggested  considerations  which  do  really  tend  to  combine  the 
theological  doctrine  of  the  appearance  and  sufferings  on  earth  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  the  astronomical  doctrine  of  the 
plurality  of  worlds  :  but  then,  all  that  they  have  offered  which  is 
truly  weighty  and  satisfactory  on  the  subject,  is  quite  inconsistent 
with  the  theological  doctrine  as  commonly  received  and  understood. 
They,  indeed,  do  not  reject  the  common  theological  doctrine  : 
on  the  contrary,  they  profess  to  maintain  it :  but  then,  it  would 
be  quite  as  difficult  to  combine  their  really  satisfactory  argu- 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  463 


merits  into  coherence  with  it,  as  to  combine  the  common  doc- 
trine itself  with  the  belief  of  a  plurality  of  worlds.  Dr.  Nares 
in  particular,  both  in  diligence  and  intelligence,  has  far  out- 
stripped all  the  others,  and  his  work  on  the  subject  contains 
many  sublime  and  truly  valuable  thoughts.  In  the  words  of  the 
sturdy  opponent  of  Dr.  Chalmers  and  uncompromising  advocate 
of  the  popular  system,  whom  I  mentioned  in  the  former  part  of 
this  discourse,  "  Dr.  Nares  considers  the  mediation  of  Christ  to 
have  several  mysteries,  or  unknown  aspects, — a  sort  of  universal 
mediation  and  redemption  for  beings  in  general,  who  form  one 
universe."  ["  Plurality  of  Worlds,"  p.  190,  second  edition.] 
Still  these  really  satisfactory  opinions  are  quite  at  variance  with 
the  common  doctrine  upon  the  subject,  though  Dr.  Nares  pro- 
fesses to  hold  them,  somehow,  in  connexion  with  it.  To  apply, 
with  a  little  modification,  the  accurate  judgment  of  the  writer 
just  cited :  "  When  you  attempt  to  make  these  sentiments 
coalesce  with  the  popular  system  of  theology,  a  discrepancy  be- 
comes visible.  It  is  like  applying  a  new  piece  of  cloth  to  an  old 
garment  for  that  which  is  put  in  to  fill  it  up,  taJceth  from  the 
garment,  and  the  rent  is  made  worse.''''  [Ib.  p.  193,  194.] 
Besides,  Dr.  Nares  acknowledges  that  he  has  read  the  work 
upon  the  subject  by  the  truly  enlighted  author  from  whom  I 
gave  some  extracts  in  the  preceding  part  of  this  Lecture,  to- 
gether with  some  other  works  from  the  same  pen.  It  is  thence, 
I  apprehend,  that  he  has  derived  his  best  ideas.  In  any  case, 
all  that  he  offers  upon  the  subject  which  is  truly  valuable,  is  to 
be  regarded,  not  as  in  any  degree  the  offspring  of  the  common 
theological  doctrines,  but  as  part  of  that  system  of  pure  Chris- 
tian truth,  which  it  is  the  object  of  this  Lecture,  and  of  all 
my  humble  labours,  to  recommend  to  your  attention.  See 
Note  (F).] 

Evident  then,  I  think  it  is,  and  must  on  all  hands  be  ad- 
mitted, that  the  astronomical  truth  of  the  existence  of  a  plurality 
of  worlds,  is  utterly  at  variance  with  the  doctrine  respecting  the 
nature  and  design  of  the  appearance  in  the  flesh  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  as  presented  in  the  popular  systems  of  theology. 
But  it  is  not  therefore  at  variance  with  the  Christian  faith 
itself :  on  the  contrary,  it  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  doc- 


464 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


trine  of  the  assumption  of  Humanity  by  the  One  Jehovah  for  the 
redemption  and  salvation  of  the  human  race  at  large,  which  forms 
the  first  and  greatest  of  that  system  of  doctrines  which  we  have 
endeavored  to  advocate  and  explain  in  these  Lectures  as  those  of 
the  True  Christian  Religion. 

No  "  scheme  of  salvation,"  we  have  seen,  can  be  satisfactory 
to  the  rational  mind,  which  supposes  so  wonderful  a  divine 
interference  as  the  appearance  in  human  nature  of  God  himself, 
to  have  been  designed  for  no  other  immediate  objeot  than  the 
recovery  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  globe.  Nor  is  the  manner  in 
which  even  the  redemption  of  this  globe  is  supposed  to  have 
been  effected, — by,  in  Dr.  Chalmers'  wild  language,  "  ending 
the  mighty  contest  of  the  attributes"  of  God, — by  devising  a 
plan  by  which  divine  wrath  might  be  satiated  without  its  falling 
upon  the  original  offenders, — at  all  more  congenial  to  the  most 
clear  apprehensions  of  enlightened  understanding.  But  present 
a  view  which  exhibits  the  extent  of  the  operation  worthy  of  the 
Agent  who  effected  it, — which  makes  the  redemption  of  our 
world  the  redemption  at  the  same  time  of  all  the  worlds  in  the 
universe,  and  requisite  even  to  the  stability  of  the  heavenly 
mansions  ;  and  which  represents  it,  also,  not  as  the  result  of  any 
"contest"  of  the  divine  attributes,  but  of  the  united  concurrence 
of  them  all ; — and  you  have  a  conception  which  is  at  least  grand 
and  philosophic  ;  and  of  which  it  cannot  be  said,  should  it  fail 
to  obtain  acceptance,  that  it  is  because  it  is  contradicted  by  any 
fact  of  science,  or  is  at  variance  with  any  of  the  suggestions  of 
reason.  As  to  the  Scriptures,  it  has  all  their  suffrages  in  its 
favour :  it  is,  in  fact,  the  only  system  which  does  "not  place  the 
Word  of  God  in  contradiction  to  itself.  Such  is  the  system 
which,  in  the  preceding  Lectures,  I  have  endeavoured  to  lay  be- 
for  you. 

Allow  me  to  add, — what  Dr.  Nares  has  with  great  propriety 
remarked, — that  the  notion  that  this  is  the  only  world  in  the 
universe  into  which  evil  has  entered,  or  the  inhabitants  of  which 
are  in  a  state  of  imperfection,  is  a  purely  gratuitous  supposition 
and  one  which  is  highly  improbable  in  itself.  Man,  in  this 
world  it  is  acknowledged  on  all  hands,  was  endowed  at  his 
creation  with  free-will  (more  properly  termed,  as  it  is,  by  the 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  465 

writers  in  Latin,  freedom  of  choice) :  and  t  might  easily  be 
shown,  though  we  have  not  time  to  go  into  such  a  subject  now, 
that  without  freedom  of  choice  there  can  be  no  being  created  of 
a  rational  and  immortal  nature.  Freedom  then  to  choose  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  as  necessary  to  be  the  subject  of  the 
imputation  of  either,  must  have  been  an  attribute  of  the  rational 
natives  of  all  the  other  earths  in  the  universe  as  well  as  of  ours. 
Where  there  is  this  freedom,  although  no  one  can  be  under  a 
necessity  of  abusing  it  by  turning  from  good  to  evil,  it  yet  is  a 
matter  of  moral  certainty  that  some  will  do  so  ;  and  thus  it  is  a 
matter  of  the  highest  probability,  that  evil,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  has  appeared  in  every  earth  in  the  universe.  Suppose  it 
have  not,  the  liability  to  it  must  surely  be  granted  to  be  certain. 
It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  created  beings,  possessing  a  moral 
nature,  who  should  not  be  placed,  in  the  initiatory  stage  of  their 
existence,  in  a  state  of  probation,  that  they  might  form,  under 
the  divine  auspices,  a  distinct  moral  character  of  their  own, — 
might  make  attainments,  as  of  themselves,  in  wisdom  and  virtue, 
to  be  the  basis  of  all  their  higher  improvements,  in  goodness 
and  happiness,  throughout  eternity.  [See  Note  (G).]  Though 
they  can  acquire  nothing  that  is  good  but  by  receiving  it  as  a 
gift  from  its  Divine  Origin,  they  must,  by  being  placed  in  a 
probationary  state,  so  receive  it  as  that  it  may  be  appropriated, 
and  imputed  to  them  as  their  own.  That  they  should  do  this, 
must  be  the  will  of  a  beneficent  Creator:  but  they  cannot  do  it, 
without  having  the  power  of  doing  the  contrary, — of  employing 
their  high  faculties  in  a  manner  the  opposite  of  that  for  which 
they  were  bestowed  :  which  abuse,  therefore,  is  permitted  by  the 
infinitely  beneficent  God,  because  without  it,  the  use  could  not 
exist.  Thus,  no  natural  world  could  be  created,  the  entrance 
into  which  of  evil  should  be  impossible.  But  where  it  has  once 
entered,  as  the  parent  transmits  to  his  offspring  the  same  nature 
as  he  has  contracted  himself,  including  an  inclination  towards  the 
same  pursuits  as  had  become  predominant  in  him,  it  obvi- 
ously might  go  on  increasing  till  at  length  the  very  capacity  of 
following  other  pursuits  should  become  extinct,  and  the  original 
freedom  of  the  race  should  be  destroyed.  Should  this  ever 
be  the  case,  the  degenerate  creatures  would  cease  to  be  men  : 
30 


466 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


they  would  cease  also  to  be  immortal :  and,  it  is  to  be  presumed, 
they  would  cease  to  exist  altogether.  If  such  a  deluge  of 
iniquity  should  not  bring  a  flood  of  waters  over  the  earth,  thus 
to  suffocate  its  inhabitants,  and  to  destroy  them  by  depriving 
the  body  of  the  air  which  it  inhales  from  without,  it  would  shut 
out  the  life  which  flows  into  the  soul  from  heaven,  and  perhaps 
might  cut  them  off  by  a  suffocation  equally  fatal.  In  this  world, 
we  are  taught  by  Revelation,  there  was,  at  least,  imminent  dan- 
ger of  such  a  catastrophe  :  and  it  was  from  this  cause,  as  we 
understand  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  True  Christian  Religion 
that  redemption  here  became  necessary.  But,  it  is  obvious, 
that  whether  the  same  circumstances  have  occurred  in  any 
other  earth  or  not,  they  are  such  as  must  be  possible,  and  even 
probable,  with  regard  to  every  other  earth  in  the  universe.  A 
redemption,  then,  which  would  apply  to  the  circumstances  of  our 
earth,  must,  either  actually  or  potentially,  be  the  redemption  of 
all  the  universe  beside.  All  earths  either  have  required  it,  or 
in  the  course  of  indefinite  duration,  were  likely  to  require  it. 
By  effecting  a  redemption,  therefore,  that  would  suit  the  neces- 
sities of  this  earth,  provision  is  made  against  every  possible  con- 
tingency, and  the  preservation  is  secured  of  the  connection  with 
its  Creator  of  every  earth  in  the  universe. 

But  what  sort  of  a  redemption  must  it  be  which  would  be 
thus  effectual,  either  to  the  preservation  of  one  world  or  of  a 
universe  ?  Certainly,  not  such  a  one  as  is  commonly  taught, 
consisting  in  a  deliverance  from  an  arbitrary  curse  of  an  arbi- 
trary law,  through  the  endurance,  by  a  Divine  Person,  in  man's 
stead,  of  the  penalty  supposed  to  be  demanded.  It  is  truly  sur- 
prising how  men  can  have  so  misinterpreted  the  statements  of 
Scripture,  as  thus  to  have  delineated  its  sublime  and  spiritual 
doctrines.  Such  a  redemption  could  have  no  effect  in  altering 
the  circumstances  of  the  human  race,  or  in  making  their  attain- 
ment of  individual  salvation  at  all  more  easy.  Pardon  a  con- 
firmed thief  at  the  gibbet,  without  communicating  to  him  any 
new  means  of  resisting  the  evil  habits  which  had  brought  him 
there ;  and  the  next  session  or  assizes  will  send  him  thither 
again.  Redemption,  to  be  effectual,  cannot  consist  in  the  Re- 
deemer's enduring  the  punishment  of  sin  in  man's  stead :  but  in, 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  467 


conferring  on  him  a  new  power  of  abstaining  from  it,  by  remov- 
ing, in  some  way,  from  its  effect  on  his  mind,  the  preponderating 
influence  of  evil  and  of  hell,  and  in  imparting  to  him  an  in- 
creased measure  of  influences  from  heaven,  adequate  to  the 
counteraction  of  all  the  tendencies  and  excitements  to  evil  to 
which  he  could  ever  be  exposed,  from  any  cause  or  source  what- 
ever. It  must,  in  fact,  as  stated  in  a  former  Lecture,  consist  in 
the  restoration  of  him  to  that  state  of  freedom  in  which  he  stood 
at  first,  notwithstanding  the  evil  bias  which  had  since  become 
ingenerate  in  his  nature,  and  the  infernal  agencies  to  which  he 
had  become  exposed,  as  the  kingdom  of  darkness  had  arisen 
and  been  increased  from  the  lost  of  the  human  race. 

Now  it  appears  evident,  that  the  accomplishment  of  this  ob- 
ject must  be  by  a  divine  operation  very  different  from  any  which 
had  existed  before ;  and  that  the  divine  influences  requisite  for 
holding  man  in  a  state  of  freedom,  and  for  still  presenting  good 
to  his  acceptance  in  such  a  manner  as  that  he  could  receive  and 
appropriate  it,  now  that  his  state  was  so  changed,  must  be  very 
different  from  those  which  were  requisite  when  he  was  in  a  state 
of  greater  purity.  Is  it  then  unreasonable  to  suppose,  that,  for 
the  accomplishment  of  such  purposes,  the  Divine  Being  would 
even  accommodate  himself,  and  the  mode,  so  to  speak,  of  his 
own  existence,  to  the  necessities  of  his  creation  ?  Infidelity 
may  ridicule  such  a  thought,  as  impossible  in  itself,  or  unne- 
cessary to  Divine  Omnipotence  :  but  sound  reason  and  philo- 
sophy will  pause,  before  they  come  to  so  hasty  a  conclusion. 
We  have  stated  when  treating  on  the  subject,  that  God  is  Om- 
nipotent, because,  whatever  end  his  wisdom  sees  fit  to  be  accom- 
plished, he  can  provide  the  means  necessary  for  doing  it ;  but 
to  advance  to  the  accomplishment  of  its  ends  without  providing 
the  appropriate  means,  must  be  as  impossible  to  divine  Omnipo- 
tence, as  it  is  for  man  to  execute  any  piece  of  workmanship 
without  arms  and  hands.  Between  finite  and  infinite,  it  is  to 
be  remembered,  there  can  be  no  relation  :  how  then  could  the 
Infinite  God  descend  to  the  creation  of  the  objects  of  nature, 
but  by  first  putting  forth,  in  a  manner,  some  active  medium 
from  himself?  This  was  seen  both  by  the  ancient  philosophers 
and  the  early  Christian  fathers  :  they  therefore  maintained,  that 


468 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


the  Divine  Logos — the  Mind,  Reason,  or  Word  of  God — which 
had  always  been  included  in  the  Divine  Essence,  went  forth  out 
of  it,  but  without  any  separation  from  it,  for  the  purposes  of 
creation.  This  the  ancient  Christians  affirmed  to  be  plainly 
taught  at  the  commencement  of  John's  Gospel:  "In  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word  [Logos]  :  and  the  Word  [Logos]  was 
with  God,  and  the  Word  [Logos']  was  God.  The  same  was  in 
the  beginning  with  God.  All  things  were  made  by  him  and 
without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made"  [Ch.  i. 
1 — 3].  The  same  Divine  Principle,  or  Eternal  Logos,  which 
made  all  things,  was  also  the  Light,  from  which  rational  crea- 
tures have  the  faculty  of  understanding  :  "In  him  was  Life, 
and  the  Life  was  the  Light  of  men"  [Ver.  4].  But  when 
man  had  sunk  into  the  merely  natural  part  of  his  constitution, 
he  was  no  longer  capable  of  receiving  this  Light  in  the  mode 
in  which  it  then  existed  :  "The  Light  shineth  in  darkness;  and 
the  darkness  comprehended  it  not"  [Ver.  5].  Wherefore,  that 
man  might  not  utterly  full  away  and  perish, — that,  sunk  into 
his  merely  natural  part  as  he  was,  he  might  again  be  placed  in 
a  free  state  of  probation,  be  held  in  a  state  still  capable  of  receiv- 
ing good  and  blessing  from  the  hand  of  his  Heavenly  Father, 
and  thus  be  brought  back  to  the  proper  order  of  his  creation, 
and  to  the  bosom  of  his  God, — his  God  was  pleased  to  accom- 
modate his  own  mode  of  existence,  and  of  presenting  himself  to 
his  creatures,  so  as  to  meet  their  every  necessity  :  "The  Word 
[Logos]  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us. — And  of  his  fulness 
have  all  we  received,  and  grace  for  grace"  [Ver.  14,  16]. 

Thus  was  effected  the  conjunction  by  God  of  his  creation,  in 
all  worlds,  with  himself.  This  being  necessary,  also,  to  secure 
the  permanence  in  existence  of  created  beings,  it  doubtless  was 
in  the  divine  contemplation,  from  the  beginning  of  creation,  and 
before  it,  thus  to  clothe  himself  with  the  Human  Principle,  when 
what  the  Scriptures  call  "the  fulness  of  time,"  or  the  proper 
state  of  this  and  of  other  worlds,  should  have  arrived.  And 
this  is  what  the  Apostle  means  to  speak  of,  when  he  mentions 
"the  eternal  purpose"  of  God  [Eph.  i.  9  ;  ch.  iii.  9,  11]. 

One  other  remark  may  be  required.  If  it  were  thus  necessary 
to  the  salvation  of  the  rational  inhabitants  of  all  worlds,  and 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL,  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  469 


even  to  the  permanence  of  creation,  that  Jehovah  should  clothe 
himself  with  Human  Nature,  it  is  equally  so  that  some  one 
world  out  of  the  myriads  in  existence  should  be  made  the  scene 
of  this  great  event.  That  ours  should  be  pitched  upon  for  the 
purpose,  is  quite  as  likely,  even  according  to  the  doctrine  of 
chances,  as  that  it  should  take  place  in  any  other.  But  there 
doubtless  are  especial  reasons  why  this  world,  in  preference  to 
any  other,  should  be  made  choice  of  for  the  purpose.  I  will 
only  suggest,  that,  supposing  there  to  be  one  earth  in  the  uni- 
verse the  inhabitants  of  which,  possibly  by  their  original  consti- 
tution, are  of  a  more  external  nature  than  those  of  any  other, 
and  who,  at  any  rate,  have  sunk  deeper  into  that  part  of  their 
frame  which  allies  man  to  the  earth  ;  we  may  reasonably  infer 
that  that  would  be  the  earth  in  which  Jehovah  would  take  Hu- 
manity upon  him  ;  because  no  otherwise  could  his  purpose  so 
well  be  accomplished  of  "saving  to  the  uttermost"  [Heb.  vii. 
25].  That  there  must  be  some  earth  that  stands  in  this  situa- 
tion, is  certain:  and,  undoubtedly,  every  candid  observer  must 
admit,  that  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  any  other  abode  in  the 
universe,  out  of  hell  itself,  in  which  the  nature  of  a  rational  and 
immortal  creature  can  appear  in  a  lower  and  more  debased  form 
than  it  wears  in  this, — in  which  man  appears  more  exclusively 
regardful  of  the  concerns  of  earth, — where  he  is  less  universally 
and  habitually  mindful  of  the  diviner  ray  which  connects  him 
with  heaven.  This  alone  is  a  sufficient  reason  why  Jehovah 
made  this  earth  the  scene  of  his  appearance  in  flesh  rather  than 
any  other.  By  clothing  himself  with  the  power  of  operating  im- 
mediately from  himself  in  such  a  world  as  this,  and  upon  men 
in  so  low  a  natural  state  as  are  its  inhabitants,  he  necessarily 
clothed  himself  with  the  power  of  operating  immediately  in 
every  other  natural  world  in  the  universe,  and  of  affording  in 
abundance  the  means  of  salvation  to  the  whole.  To  some,  the 
increased  energy  thus  given  to  the  divine  influences  might  not 
be  necessary  ;  to  others,  doubtless,  it  was  :  and  by  putting  it  on, 
provision  is  made  against  every  contingency.  All  worlds  are 
enfolded,  in  a  manner  which  would  otherwise  have  been  impos- 
sible, in  the  mantle  of  divine  power  and  protection. 

I  have  presented  this  view  of  this  exalted  subject,  rather  in 


470  LECTURE  XXVII. 

the  way  of  theory,  because  it  was  impossible,  in  the  compass  of 
one  Lecture,  to  support  everything  with  proofs ;  though  some 
proof,  also,  has,  T  trust,  been  given.  But  presented  only  in  the 
way  of  theory,  it  must  be  allowed  to  be  such  a  theory  as,  if 
admitted  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  True  Christian  Religion, 
completely  harmonizes  the  True  Christian  Religion  with  the 
astronomical  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds.  But  in  order  to 
rise  to  full  certainty,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  just  view  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  True  Christian  Religion  on  the  subjects  of  the 
Divine  Unity  and  Trinity,  the  Assumption  of  Humanity  by 
Jehovah  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Redemption  of  Jesus 
Christ,  Salvation  by  his  blood,  his  Sacrifice,  his  Mediation,  and 
his  Atonement ;  as  these  have  been  presented  in  the  preceding 
Lectures.  It  has  in  them  been  shown,  that,  without  the  assump- 
tion and  glorification  of  Humanity  by  Jehovah  himself,  the  sal- 
vation of  man  would  have  been  impossible  ; — that  it  is  only  from 
the  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  glorified  and  fully  united  to  the 
Divinit)',  that  those  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  can  be  given, 
on  which  depends  the  salvation  of  the  human  race.  "What  is 
true  on  these  subjects  in  reference  to  the  human  race  on  this 
globe,  is  true  also,  and,  in  most  cases,  perhaps,  equally  so,  in 
regard  to  all  rational  and  immortal  beings  through  the  visible 
universe.  By  this  "  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times,"  the 
Lord  has  provided  for  the  "  gathering  together  of  all  things 
in  one  :"  and  thus  hath  he  "  reconciled  all  things  to  himself, 
whether  they  be  things  in  earth  or  things  in  heaven." 

Who,  my  friends  and  brethren,  can  raise  his  mind  to  the  con- 
templation of  so  glorious  a  truth,  without  being  in  a  manner 
carried  out  of  himself,  and  absorbed  in  an  ecstacy  of  admiration, 
adoration,  and  heavenly  transport?  How  annihilating  of  every- 
thing that  is  little,  mean,  and  selfish  about  us,  is  the  view  of 
what  we  are,  in  comparison  with  the  indefinite  magnitude  of  the 
creation,  as  an  image  of  the  Infinity  of  the  Creator;  but  espe- 
cially in  comparison  with  the  immensity  of  his  love  and  good- 
ness, in  providing  that  no  world  he  has  ever  made,  nor  one 
inhabitant  of  it,  should  vanish  entirely  from  his  presence, — and 
in  that,  having  first  invested  himself  with  a  suitable  form  by  ta- 
king on  him  the  Human  Essence,  he  should,  by  that  as  a  medium, 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  471 


have  invested  himself,  as  it  were,  with  the  whole  universe,  and 
secured  its  eternal  connection  with  himself?  And  while  these 
considerations  are  annihilating  to  everything  that  is  little  and 
selfish  in  our  nature,  how  exalting  are  they  of  everything  apper- 
taining to  us  that  is  truly  nohle, — of  that  heavenly  spark  within 
by  which  we  have  affinity,  in  our  finite  degree,  with  this  great 
Lord  and  Father  of  all,  and  are  capable  of  rising  into  his  glori- 
ous image  !  Compared  with  the  immensity  of  the  creation,  and 
the  Infinity  of  the  Creator,  we,  individually,  are  nothing:  but 
considered  as  having  that  belonging  to  us  (though  all  by  his  gift) 
in  which  ihe  Creator  can  dwell, — as  either  having,  actually,  con- 
junction of  life  with  him,  or,  at  least,  the  capacity  of  attaining  it, 
— of  being  in  him,  as  our  Redeemer,  and  he  in  us, — a  reflec- 
tion of  his  Majesty  irradiates  our  nothingness :  we  feel  that,  in 
him,  we,  also,  are  something,  yea,  as  much  as  we  could  be,  were 
there  no  other  created  beings  in  the  universe.  The  indefinite 
greatness  of  the  multitude  of  his  rational  offspring  does  not 
diminish  the  power  of  the  Almighty  Creator  and  Redeemer  of 
magnifying  each  to  the  utmost  capability  of  reception  belonging 
to  a  created  being.  Let  us  cherish,  and  seek  to  advance  in  this 
our  true  greatness.  Since,  by  the  assumption  of  our  nature,  and 
the  redemption  of  this  world  and  of  the  universe,  our  God  has 
again  placed  us  in  a  free  state  of  probation,  and  opened  the  way 
by  which  we  may  return  into  the  bosom  of  his  love,  let  us  take 
advantage  of  the  inestimable  privilege.  Let  earthly  and  tran- 
sient things,  and  vain  and  evil  pleasures  and  pursuits,  sink  into 
the  insignificance  which  properly  belongs  to  them  ;  and  let  hea- 
venly and  eternal  ones, — the  substantial  goods  and  enjoyments 
of  an  immortal  nature,  assume  their  due  importance  in  our  eyes. 
Let  us  flee  into  the  arms  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  despising  all 
honour  but  that  which  cometh  from  God  only.  Let  us  seek  to 
unite  ourselves  with  our  Creator,  in  his  character  of  Redeemer, 
and  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ. 


472 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


Notes  and  Illustrations  to  the  foregoing  Lecture. 

[This  Lecture,  though  it  originally  occupied  a  place  in  the  Series 
in  which  it  now  stands,  and  for  which  it  was  composed,  was 
printed  by  itself,  and  was  therefore  illustrated  with  rather  co- 
pious Notes.    The  chief  of  these  are  here  retained.] 

Note  (A).  Page  448. 
The  title  of  this  work  is,  "Plurality  of  Worlds:  or  Letters, 
Notes,  and  Memoranda,  Philosophical  and  Critical,  occasioned 
by  'A  Series  of  Discourses  on  the  Christian  Revelation,  viewed 
in  connexion  with  Modern  Astronomy.  By  Thomas  Chalmers, 
D.  D.'  By  Alexander  Maxwell."  Second  Edition,  1820.  The 
first  edition,  in  1817,  was  published  anonymously.  To  some  of 
the  Notes  I  have  beenjnuch  indebted. 

Note  (B).  Page  451. 
The  idea  suggested  in  the  extract  here  given  from  Swedenborg, 
that  the  end  of  the  creation  of  the  visible  universe  is  the  forma- 
tion of  a  heaven  out  of  the  human  race,  is  not,  I  believe,  to  be 
found  in  any  other  writer;  though,  to  a  mind  not  previously  occu- 
pied by  other  ideas,  the  reasonableness  of  it  is  such  as  to  carry 
instant  conviction  of  its  truth.  The  reason  that  it  has  not  been 
generally  seen,  is  because  men  have  been  accustomed  to  look 
upon  angels  as  beings  of  a  totally  different  nature  and  origin 
from  themselves ;  as  beings  created  in  the  angelic  state  at  once, 
without  being  prepared  for  it  by  a  life  of  probation  in  a  previous 
natural  state  of  existence.  Full  proof  that  angels  are  human 
beings  in  a  state  of  glory,  that  infernal  spirits  are  all  from  the 
same  origin,  and  that  the  Scriptures  lend  no  countenance  what- 
ever to  the  opposite  opinion,  may  be  seen  in  a  work  by  the 
author  of  this  Lecture,  entitled  "  An  Appeal  in  behalf  of  the 
Views  of  the  Eternal  World  and  State,  and  the  Doctrines  of 
Faith  and  Life,  held  by  the  body  of  Christians  who  believe  that 
a  New  Church  is  signified  by  the  New  Jerusalem."  2nd  Ed. 
p.  280,  &c.  A  luminous  and  convincing  statement  on  the  design 
of  the  creation  of  the  natural  universe,  as  the  basis  and  seminary 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  473 

of  heaven,  from  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  is  given  in  the  same 
work,  p.  132,  133.  For  evidence  of  the  title  of  that  writer  to  be 
received  as  an  authorized  witness  on  the  subjects  on  which  he 
writes,  see  that  work,  Sect.  V. 

Note  (C).  Page  454. 
On  this  subject,  "  The  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures," 
&c.,  may  be  consulted,  p.  555 — 576.  It  is  there  proved  that  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  not  intended  to  be  a  literal  account  of 
the  creation  of  the  world  and  universe.  But  many  have  shown 
that  even  upon  the  supposition  that  a  description  of  the  natural 
creation  were  meant,  it  contains  nothing  inconsistent  with  the 
doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Samuel. 
Pye,  (as  quoted  by  Dr.  Nares),  "  What  is  asserted  there  of  the 
creation  and  formation  of  the  earth,  may,  with  the  same  his- 
torical truth,  be  applied  to  Jupiter  and  the  other  primary  planets  ; 
and  that,  therefore,  the  other  primary  planets  are  inhabited  ;  and 
the  notion  of  revelation  may  be  extended  to  the  inhabitants  of 
every  planet  in  the  system."  All  which  would  be  equally  just 
of  every  planet  in  the  universe.  I  add  some  judicious  remarks 
of  Dr.  Nares  himself :  "  I  am  not  in  the  least  put  out  of  my  way 
by  the  moon  being  called  1  a  great  light,''  set  in  the  heavens  to 
rule  our  night ;  for  undoubtedly  it  is  so  to  us ;  nay,  to  the  bulk 
of  mankind  it  is  (if  I  may  so  say)  so  revealed  to  their  senses  ; 
and  if  the  word  and  works  of  God  are  to  be  expected  to  confirm 
each  other,  it  is  more  consonant  to  the  visible  works  of  God,  to 
describe  it  according  to  its  obvious  uses,  than  if  it  had  been 
pronounced  an  opaque  globe  of  earth,  reflective  of  the  sun's 
beams,  inhabited  (perhaps)  like  the  one  we  dwell  on.  Is  it  of 
any  concern  to  us,  physical  or  moral,  whether  the  heavenly 
bodies  are  intrinsically  what  our  senses  represent  them ;  or 
whether  they  are  far  different  in  substance  and  condition  when 
more  fully  understood  ?  Is  it,  I  would  ask,  any  impeachment 
of  God's  truth  in  his  dealings  with  mankind,  that  the  moon  ap- 
pears many  times  bigger  than  Jupiter  and  Saturn?  Shall  we 
accuse  our  Maker  of  having  heretofore  deceived  his  creatures, 
because  we  think  we  have  now  found  out,  that  the  body  of  our 
earth  revolves  under  our  feet  at  the  rate  of  one  thousand  miles 


474 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


an  hour  ;  a  motion  never  to  be  reconciled  to  our  senses  ?  If  I 
was  to  grant  then,  which  I  do  not,  that  Moses  had  written,  in 
some  respects,  unphilosophically  ;  I  should  yet  contend,  that,  in 
the  case  before  us,  considering  how  the  works  of  God  appear  to 
our  unassisted  faculties,  the  heavenly  bodies  could  not  have  been 
otherwise  described,  consistent  with  the  relations  they  bear  to 
this  particular  planet"  [Etg  &sog,  Et;  Meairri;,  p.  104 — 10C].  These 
are  the  observations  of  sound  good  sense.  The  Word  of  God 
always  speaks,  and  ought  to  speak,  of  natural  things  according 
to  the  appearance.  But  Dr.  Nares  is  not  so  happy  when  he 
afterwards  proceeds  to  guard  us  against  drawing  too  strict  an 
analogy  between  the  manner  in  which  God  speaks  to  us  in  na- 
ture and  that  in  which  he  speaks  to  us  in  his  Word  :  though  here 
also  he  allows  that,  "in  the  revelation  of  the  word  of  God,  some- 
what analogous  to  this  appears." 

Note  (D).  Page  455. 
Because  the  original  word,  atuvag,  does  not,  in  its  original 
meaning,  signify  worlds,  but  ages,  or  periods  of  times,  theologians 
■of  the  Unitarian  School  labour  hard  to  exclude  that  signification 
here.  However,  the  best  scholars  affirm,  that  in  various  places, 
of  which  this  is  one,  it  does  denote  the  whole  system  of  created  things, 
— the  universe.  Indeed,  this  is  virtually  included  in  its  strict  and 
proper  meaning,  which,  as  well  defined  by  Schleusner,  is,  "  any 
space  of  time,  whether  longer  or  shorter,  whether  past,  present, 
or  still  future  ;  an  entire  period  of  duration,  accommodated  to 
the  things  and  persons  who  are  the  subjects  of  discourse  ;  but  in 
such  manner,  as  also  to  include,  by  metonymy,  the  things  and 
persons  who  continue  for  the  period  spoken  of,  the  things  made 
or  existing  in  the  time  referred  to."  "  The  ages,"  then,  as  de- 
noting all  periods  of  time,  with  all  things  made  or  existing  therein, 
must  here  include  "  the  worlds"  or  the  universe.  But  what  would 
be  gained  by  those  who  oppose  this  sense,  in  the  way  of  de- 
priving the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  of  his  honour,  as  the  maker  of 
the  worlds,  it  is  not  easy  to  see,  when  various  other  passages  de- 
scribe him  as  the  Maker  of  all  things. 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  475 


Note  (E).  Page  462. 
No  disrespect  is  herein  intended  towards  Dr.  Chalmers.  No 
blame  whatever  is  imputable  to  him :  the  fault  is  not  in  him, 
but  in  the  materials  he  had  to  work  with.  Great  talents  may- 
gloss  over  contradictions,  but  they  cannot  reconcile  them  :  and 
this  is  precisely  the  case  in  Dr.  C.'s  "Discourses."  All  must 
admire  the  great  abilities  which  he  has  brought  to  the  under- 
taking, and  the  many  beautiful  thoughts  and  sentiments  which 
are  scattered  through  his  work.  That,  however,  his  work  has 
failed  in  reconciling  the  philosophical  truth  with  the  popular 
theological  doctrines,  is,  I  apprehend,  sufficiently  obvious  from 
what  has  been  shown  in  the  Lecture.  But  I  will  support  what 
is  there  briefly  stated  by  a  few  more  quotations  from  the  "  Dis- 
courses." 

I  have  said  in  the  Lecture,  (p.  459),  that  "Dr.  Chalmers  pro- 
fesses not  to  allow  that  Christianity  is  designed  for  the  single 
benefit  of  our  world,  and,  with  many  taunts,  defies  the  Deist  to 
prove  it :  but  how  it  contributes  to  the  benefit  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  other  earths  and  systems,  he  leaves  the  Infidel  to  dis- 
cover for  himself ;"  &c.  The  following  is  a  specimen  of  his 
mode  of  treating  this  part  of  the  subject : 

.  "  In  the  astronomical  objection  which  Infidelity  has  proposed 
against  the  truth  of  the  Christian  revelation,  there  is  first  an 
assertion,  and  then  an  argument.  The  assertion  is,  that  Chris- 
tianity is  set  up  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  our  minute  and 
solitary  world.  The  argument  is,  that  God  would  not  lavish 
such  a  quantity  of  attention  on  so  insignificant  a  field.  Even 
though  the  assertion  be  admitted,  I  should  have  a  quarrel  with 
the  argument.  But  the  futility  of  the  objection  is  not  laid  open 
in  all  its  extent,  unless  we  expose  the  utter  want  of  all  essential 
evidence  even  for  the  truth  of  the  assertion.  How  do  Infidels 
know  that  Christianity  is  set  up  for  the  single  benefit  of  this 
earth  and  its  inhabitants  ?  How  are  they  able  to  tell  us,  that, 
if  you  go  to  other  planets,  the  person  and  religion  of  Jesus  are 
there  unknown  to  them  ?  We  challenge  them  to  the  proof  of 
this  announcement."  (P.  76,  77.)  Now,  with  all  deference,  the 
proof  does  not  lie  with  the  objector  to  Christianity  on  this 


476 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


ground.  Speaking,  as  the  preacher  here  prudently  does,  of 
Christianity  itself,  these  questions  may  be  safely  asked.  But 
the  astronomical  objector  knows  nothing  of  Christianity  but 
from  the  popular  representations  of  it,  and  they  all  go  upon  the 
supposition,  that  it  is  "set  up  for  the  single  benefit  of  this  earth 
and  its  inhabitants."  As  we  have  seen  in  the  Lecture,  Dr. 
Chalmers'  own  representations  of  it  are  such  as  suppose  nothing 
else.  It  is  little  to  the  purpose,  then,  to  endeavour  to  over- 
whelm the  objector  by  the  following  torrent  of  eloquence  :  "For 
anything  he  can  tell,  sin  has  found  its  way  into  these  other 
worlds.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell,  their  people  have  banished 
themselves  from  communion  with  God.  For  any  thing  he  can 
tell,  many  a  visit  has  been  made  to  each  of  them,  on  the  subject 
of  our  common  Christianity,  by  commissioned  messengers  from 
the  throne  of  the  Eternal.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell,  the  re- 
demption proclaimed  to  us  is  not  one  solitary  instance,  or  not 
the  whole,  of  that  redemption  which  is  by  the  Son  of  God — but 
only  our  part  in  a  plan  of  mercy,  equal  in  magnificence  to  all 
that  astronomy  has  brought  within  the  range  of  human  contem- 
plation. For  any  thing  he  can  tell,  the  moral  pestilence,  which 
walks  abroad  over  the  face  of  our  world,  may  have  spread  its 
desolations  over  all  the  planets  of  all  the  systems  which  the 
telescope  has  made  known  to  us.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell, 
some  mighty  redemption  has  been  devised  in  heaven,  to  meet 
this  disaster  in  the  extent  and  malignity  of  its  visitations.  For 
any  thing  he  can  tell,  the  wonder-working  God,  who  has  strewed 
the  field  of  immensity  with  so  many  worlds,  and  spread  the 
shelter  of  his  omnipotence  over  them,  may  have  sent  a  message 
of  love  to  each,  and  re-assured  the  hearts  of  its  despairing 
people  by  some  overpowering  manifestation  of  tenderness.  For 
anything  he  can  tell,  angels  from  paradise  may  have  sped  to 
every  planet  their  delegated  way,  and  sung,  from  such  azure 
canopy,  a  joyful  annunciation,  and  said, 'Peace  be  to  this  resi- 
dence, and  good  will  to  all  its  families,  and  glory  to  Him  in  the 
highest,  who,  from  the  eminency  of  his  throne,  has  issued  an 
act  of  grace  so  magnificent,  as  to  carry  the  tidings  of  life  and 
acceptance  to  the  numbered  orbs  of  a  sinful  creation  !  For 
any  thing  he  can  tell,  the  Eternal  Son,  of  whom  it  is  said,  that 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  477 


by  him  the  worlds  were  created,  may  have  had  the  government 
of  many  sinful  worlds  laid  upon  his  shoulders ;  and  by  the 
power  of  his  mysterious  word,  have  awoke  them  all  from  that 
spiritual  death,  to  which  they  had  sunk  in  lethargy  as  profound 
as  the  slumbers  of  non-existence.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell, 
the  one  Spirit  who  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters,  and  whose 
presiding  influence  it  was  that  hushed  the  wild  war  of  nature's 
elements,  and  made  a  beauteous  system  emerge  out  of  its  dis- 
jointed materials,  may  now  be  working  with  the  fragments  of 
another  chaos,  and  educing  order,  and  obedience,  and  harmony, 
out  of  the  wrecks  of  a  moral  rebellion,  which  reaches  through 
all  these  spheres,  and  spreads  disorder  to  the  uttermost  limits  of 
our  astronomy."  (P.  79 — 81.) 

Some  of  these  suggestions  are  truly  magnificent,  and,  what  is 
more,  they  present  the  real  truth.  But  if  they  present  the 
truth,  they  demonstrate  the  popular  doctrine  of  redemption  to 
be  erroneous.  This  incongruity  Dr.  C.  has  made  no  attempt  to 
remove  :  and  thus  the  best  of  these  suggestions,  sublime  as  they 
are,  do  not  at  all  tend  to  the  solution  of  the  objector's  difficulties. 
He  talks  indeed  sometimes,  as  if  he  were  going  to  prove  that 
the  redemption  of  our  world  really  extended  to  others.  He  says, 
at  the  close  of  bis  third  Discourse,  that  "  it  is  not  merely  as- 
serted, what  in  our  last  Discourse  has  been  already  done  [in  the 
extracts  just  adduced],  that,  for  anything  we  can  know  by 
reason,  the  plan  of  redemption  may  have  its  influences  and  its 
bearings  on  those  creatures  of  God  who  people  other  regions  and 
occupy  other  fields  in  the  immensity  of  his  dominions  ;" — "  the 
Christian  apologist  thinks  he  can  go  farther  than  this — that  he 
cannot  merely  expose  the  utter  baselessness  of  the  Infidel  as- 
sertion, but  that  he  has  positive  ground  for  erecting  an  opposite 
and  confronting  assertion  in  its  place."  This  leads  us  to  expect 
that  the  "  confronting  assertion"  will  be  made  and  supported 
in  the  next  Discourse.  Is  it  so?  After  a  long  introduction  the 
tendency  of  which  is  to  prevent  the  reader  from  expecting  too 
much,  we  at  length  come  to  this  statement:  "  The  informations 
of  the  Bible  upon  this  subject  are  of  two  sorts — that  from  which 
we  confidently  gather  the  fact,  that  the  .history  of  the  redemp- 
tion of  our  species  is  known  in  other  and  distant  places  of  the 


478 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


creation — and  that,  from  which  we  indistinctly  guess  at  the  fact, 
that  the  redemption  itself  may  stretch  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
world  we  occupy."  (P.  135.)  Here  we  again  are  led  to  expect, 
that  both  these  propositions  are  to  be  illustrated.  But  we  ex- 
pect in  vain.  The  latter  is  never  taken  up  at  all.  The  author 
most  copiously  labours  the  argument,  that  the  history  of  the  re- 
demption of  this  earth  is  known  to  others ;  but  he  proposes  no 
other  positive  advantage  to  them  but  that  of  the  moral  display ; — 
"the  moral  display  of  the  Godhead  is  mainly  and  substantially 
the  same  as  if  it  reached  throughout  the  whole  of  the  habitable 
extent  which  the  science  of  astronomy  has  made  known  to  us. 
By  the  disobedience  of  this  one  world  the  law  was  trampled  on 
— and,  in  the  business  of  making  truth  and  mercy  to  meet,  and 
have  a  harmonious  accomplishment  on  the  men  of  this  world,  the 
dignity  of  God  was  put  to  the  same  trial :  the  justice  of  God 
appeared  to  lay  the  same  immovable  barrier  ;  the  wisdom  of 
God  had  to  clear  a  way  through  the  same  difficulties  ;  the  for- 
giveness of  God  had  to  find  the  same  mysterious  conveyance  to 
the  sinners  of  a  solitary  world,  as  to  the  sinners  of  half  a  universe." 
(P.  143.)  "As  we  talk  of  the  public  mind  of  a  city,  or  the 
public  mind  of  an  empire — by  the  well-frequented  avenues  of  a 
free  and  ready  circulation,  a  public  mind  might  be  formed 
throughout  the  whole  extent  of  God's  sinless  and  intelligent 
creation — and,  just  as  we  often  read  of  the  eyes  of  all  Europe 
being  turned  to  one  spot  where  some  affair  of  eventful  import- 
ance is  going  on,  there  might  the  eyes  of  a  whole  universe 
be  turned  to  one  world,  where  rebellion  against  the  Majesty  of 
heaven  had  planted  its  standard ;  and  for  the  re-admission  of 
which  within  the  circle  of  his  fellowship,  God,  whose  justice  was 
inflexible,  but  whose  mercy  he  had,  by  some  plan  of  mysterious 
wisdom,  made  to  rejoice  over  it,  was  putting  forth  all  the  might, 
and  travailing  in  all  the  greatness  of  the  attributes  which  belong- 
ed to  him."  (P.  136, 137). 

Here  again  we  might  well  repeat  the  observations  appended 
to  the  quotations  from  this  writer  in  the  Lecture :  he  seems  to 
delight  in  stating  what  he  considers  as  the  divine  plan  for 
reconciling  Divine  Justice  with  Divine  Mercy  in  terms  fully 
tantamount  to  those  in  which  I  have  stated  it  in  the  preceding 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  479 

Lectures.  And  thus  it  always  is  with  this  eloquent  writer :  he 
never  extends  the  benefit  of  redemption  to  other  worlds  any 
otherwise  than  as  the  theme  of  contemplation.  He  evidently  felt 
that  the  purely  artificial  "  plan  of  redemption"  which  he  has 
adopted  from  the  popular  system  of  theology,  cannot  possibly  be 
adapted  to  any  other  world  than  this.  Even  the  knowledge  of 
it  in  other  worlds  he  makes  a  result  of  the  sinless  state  of  the 
inhabitants  of  those  worlds,  and  their  consequent  familiar  in- 
tercourse with  angels.  Had  they  any  real  need  of  the  redemp- 
tion wrought  here,  they  would,  it  seems,  know  no  more  about 
it,  than  we  know  of  transactions  performed  among  them.  Thus, 
while  he  calls  upon  the  Infidel  to  form  a  system  of  redemption 
that  would  include  all  the  earths  in  the  universe,  he  plainly 
acknowledges  that  such  a  system  must  be  a  very  different  one 
from  his  own.  It  will  perhaps  be  said,  that  he  does  not  extend 
redemption  to  other  earths,  because  the  Scriptures  do  not  speak 
positively  on  the  subject.  Suppose  it  were  so,  his  system  of 
redemption  ought  to  be  such  as  is  capable  of  including  other 
earths,  upon  the  supposition  that  there  are  such  earths  ;  which 
he  admits  and  strenuously  advocates.  We  know  that  this  earth 
is  inhabited :  and  we  infer  from  analogy,  that  all  other  earths 
•  are  inhabited  also.  We  know  that  here  a  redemption  has  been 
wrought ;  and  we  have  precisely  the  same  ground  of  analogy  for 
inferring,  that  this  likewise,  is  not  a  private  affair,  including  our 
earth  alone.  And  though  the  Scriptures  do  not  positively  teach 
the  existence  of  other  natural  worlds,  it  has  been  shown,  in  the 
Lecture,  that  they  do  positively  teach,  that  if  there  are  other 
worlds,  the  benefits  of  the  assumption  by  Jehovah  of  Humanity 
here,  thus  of  redemption,  extend  to  all.  The  inventors  of  the 
popular  system  of  theology  had  no  knowledge  of  the  existence  of 
any  earth  but  this.  To  the  circumstances  of  this  earth  alone 
they  adapted  it.  But  when  we  admit  the  immensely  enlarged 
idea  of  an  indefinite  multitude  of  earths  in  the  universe,  it  is 
indeed  sewing  a  piece  of  new  cloth  on  an  old  garment,  to  en- 
deavour to  connect  this  with  the  old  narrow,  contracted  notions 
of  a  redemption  calculated  for  the  descendants  of  Adam  only. 


480 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


Note  (F).  Page  463. 
The  title  of  Dr.  Nares'  work  is  "  Etg  0eog,  Ei;  Meonrjg ;  or,  an 
Attempt  to  show  how  far  the  Philosophical  Notion  of  a  Plurality 
of  Worlds  is  consistent,  or  not  so,  with  the  Language  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures."  I  take  a  few  extracts  to  show  the  beauty  of 
some  of  his  conceptions,  though  he  takes  no  pains  to  set  them 
off  with  Dr.  Chalmers'  splendour  of  language.  "  I  by  no 
means  can  bring  myself  to  limit  my  ideas  of  the  mediatorial 
scheme  to  this  our  system.  I  cannot  think  the  words  of  St. 
Paul  require  this  of  us  ;  '  for  he  hath  put  all  things  under  his 
feet ;'  or,  in  other  words,  for  the  Father  hath  put  all  things 
under  the  feet  of  Christ.  But  we  must  except  whom  ?  He 
which  did  put  all  things  under  the  feet  of  Christ.  All  things 
else  therefore  but  the  Deity  :  not  only  this  pitiful  globe  of  ours; 
but  all  the  plurality  of  worlds,  and  variety  of  beings,  that  infinite 
space  can  contain."  (P.  27.)  "  I  leave  the  mode  of  redemption, 
and  all  the  circumstances  relative  to  the  personal  interposition  of 
the  Godhead,  to  be  determined  by  Scripture  ;  only  submitting 
it  as  a  question,  rather  of  curiosity  than  importance,  whether  the 
atonement  made  for  man  may  not  have  been  made  for  the 
creature  generally  ?  Or  in  other  words,  whether  we  are  not  at 
liberty  to  consider  our  blessed  Saviour  as  Mediator,  not  between 
God  and  man,  as  the  inhabitant  of  this  globe,  but  more  largely, 
between  the  Creator  and  the  creature?''''  (P.  39 — 42.)  "  The 
whole  is  but  conjecture,  as  relates  to  other  worlds,  though 
founded  upon  the  actual  fact  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Godhead 
among  ourselves  ;  which,  having  accomplished  for  us  all  that  we 
could  desire,  and  more  than  we  deserve  ;  having  made  us  ac- 
quainted with  the  only  efficacious  means  of  grace,  and  set  before 
us  the  brightest  hopes  of  glory,  may,  we  presume  to  suppose, 
have  been  of  like  efficacy  to  all  who  should  have  stood  in  need 
of  such  an  interposition  of  the  divine  grace  and  mercy.  And 
this  of  itself  would  almost  serve  to  render  all  the  passages  of 
Scripture,  relating  to  this  divine  truth,  as  comprehensible  as  this 
system  would  require  :  for  it  is  only  supposing  the  other  worlds 
to  be  peopled  with  rational  creatures,  that  they  are  frail  like 
ourselves,  and  all  ultimately  to  be  judged  by  the  Mediator,  as  we 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  481 

shall  be  ;  and  the  application  is  the  same.  (P.  44,  45.)  "  It  is 
only  by  reasoning  from  analogy  that  we  are  brought  to  suppose, 
that  the  system  of  the  universe  may  be  as  it  has  been  repre- 
sented :  and  it  is  only  by  analogy,  also,  that  we  have  ventured 
to  infer,  that,  if  this  system  be  a  physical  truth,  then,  perhaps, 
the  dispensations  of  grace  may  be  found  to  correspond,  and 
the  whole  universe  to  be  knit  together  by  the  '  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,  one  body,  one  spirit,  one  hope  of  our 
calling,  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of 
all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  all.*"  (P.  73,  74.) 
The  following  very  remarkable  passage  is  quoted  by  Dr.  N. 
(p.  44),  from  Dr.  H.  More's  "Dialogues  concerning  the  Attri- 
butes and  Providence  of  God."  "Lapsed  souls,  wherever  they 
are,  that  recover  into  sincerity,  are  saved  Sia  tt\v  eeavOwKiav,  by 
the  divine  humanity  or  human  divinity,  of  the  Son  of  God ;  which 
is  the  inmost  and  deepest  arcanum  of  our  Christian  Religion, 
and  it  is  the  privilege  of  the  Christian  world,  that  they  have  this 
mystery  so  plainly  and  distinctly  communicated  to  them  by  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel.  But  the  efficacy  of  the  said  mystery 
may  also  be  derived  to  them  that  never  heard  it  sound  ex- 
ternally and  historically  to  their  outward  ears  :  for  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  passes  through  the  whole  universe,  and  communicates 
this  mystery  to  all  souls,  wherever  they  are,  that  are  fitted  to 
receive  it,  in  a  more  hidden  and  miraculous  way,  such  as  himself, 
and  at  what  time  himself,  shall  please  to  make  use  of.  This  I 
think  the  most  sober  solution  of  the  present  difficulty,  upon  the 
supposition  that  there  are  any  men,  properly  so  called,  that 
inhabit  those  planets  or  earths  you  speak  of."  Many  more 
excellent  observations,  both  of  his  own  and  of  the  authors  he 
quotes,  might  be  cited,  would  space  permit,  from  Dr.  Nares. 
Some  others  will  be  given  in  the  next  note. 

Dr.  Beattie,  in  his  "Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion," 
gives  the  same  ideas  as  are  taken  up  by  Dr.  Chalmers  respecting 
"our  fall  and  recovery  being  useful  to  the  natives  of  other 
worlds  as  an  example,  and  the  divine  grace  manifested  in  our 
redemption  raising  their  admiration  :"  and  Mr.  A.  Fuller,  in  his 
"  Gospel  its  own  Witness,"  suggests  the  very  thoughts  in  answer 
to  the  objection  as  to  the  insignificance  of  the  field  on  which  the 
31 


482 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


scene  was  transacted,  which  Dr.  Chalmers  has  so  extensively 
amplified,  but  without  any  reference  to  prior  authorities.  The 
passages  are  adduced  by  Mr.  Maxwell,  and  the  former  of  them 
by  Dr.  Nares. 

Bishop  Porteus  (also  cited  by  both  the  last  named  writers) 
puts  the  argument  on  the  right  footing,  in  the  following  striking 
passage  in  his  sermons  :  "  On  what  ground  is  it  concluded  that 
the  benefits  of  Christ's  death  extend  no  farther  than  to  our- 
selves? As  well  might  we  suppose,  that  the  sun  was  placed  in 
the  firmament  merely  to  illuminate  and  warm  this  earth  that  we 
inhabit.  To  the  vulgar  and  illiterate  this  actually  appears  to  be 
the  case.  But  philosophy  teaches  us  better  things  :  it  enlarges 
our  contracted  views  of  divine  beneficence,  and  brings  us  ac- 
quainted with  other  planets  and  other  worlds,  which  share  with 
us  the  cheering  influence  and  vivifying  warmth  of  that  glorious 
luminary.  Is  it  not  then  a  fair  analogy  to  conclude,  that  the 
great  spiritual  Light  of  the  world,  the  Fountain  of  life  and 
health  and  joy  to  the  soul,  does  not  scatter  his  blessings  over  the 
creation  with  a  more  sparing  hand  ?  and  that  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness rises,  with  healing  in  his  wings,  to  other  orders  of 
beings  besides  ourselves  ?  Nor  does  this  conclusion  rest  on 
analogy  alone.  It  is  evident,  from  Scripture  itself,  that  we  are 
by  no  means  the  only  creatures  in  the  universe  interested  in  the 
sacrifice  of  our  Redeemer.  (See  Eph.  i.  10  ;  Col.  i.  16,  20.) 
From  intimations  such  as  these,  it  is  highly  probable,  that,  in 
the  great  work  of  redemption,  as  well  as  of  creation,  there  is  a 
vast  stupendous  plan  of  wisdom,  of  which  we  cannot  at  present 
so  much  as  conceive  the  whole  compass  and'extent :  and,  if  we 
could  assist  and  improve  the  mental  as  we  can  the  corporeal 
sight ;  if  we  could  magnify  and  bring  nearer  to  us,  by  the  help 
of  instruments,  the  great  component  parts  of  the  spiritual,  as  we 
do  the  vast  bodies  of  the  natural  world,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
but  that  the  resemblance  and  analogy  would  hold  between  them 
in  this,  as  it  does  in  numberless  other  well  known  instances ; 
and  that  a  scene  of  wonders  would  burst  upon  us  from  the  one, 
at  least  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  those  which  the  united  powers 
of  astronomy  and  optics  disclose  to  us  in  the  other."  (Works, 
vol.  iii.  p.  70.)    All  this,  and  more  that  the  good  bishop  offers, 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  483 

is  equally  beautiful  and  true  :  but  then,  if  the  "  death"  and 
"  sacrifice  of  our  Redeemer"  have  this  wide-extended  eflficac3r, 
it  is  evident  that  their  operations  must  be  of  a  different  kind 
from  that  which  is  ascribed  to  them  in  the  popular  system  of 
theology. 

Mr.  Maxwell,  whose  work,  "  Plurality  of  Worlds,"  &c  has 
been  already  mentioned,  truly  observes  (p.  192),  that  "  these 
opinions  approximate  very  near  to  those  of  Emanuel  Sweden- 
borg,"  whose  views,  as  he  had  the  sagacity  to  discern,  are  the 
only  ones  which  will  properly  combine  with  the  doctrine  of  a 
plurality  of  worlds.  Hence  he  remarks,  "  In  my  opinion,  the 
professors  of  Christianity  who  adopt  this  philosophical  theory, 
are  in  the  direct  road,  if  they  knew  it,  of  receiving  all  the  visions 
of  Swedenborg."  (P.  196.)  But  when  he  wrote  that  work,  he 
obviously,  like  most  others,  was  under  the  influence  of  consider- 
able prejudice  in  regard  to  Swedenborg.  He  otherwise  would 
not  have  spoken  of  him  as  "  removing  the  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment ;"  for  he  would  have  known  that  he  removes  nothing  but 
the  mistakes  with  which  the  doctrine  is  encompassed.  Nor 
would  he  have  spoken  of  his  "  visions."  Swedenborg's  works, 
for  the  most  part,  consist  of  expositions  of  the  Scriptures  and 
elucidations  of  the  Christian  doctrines.  Some  parts  contain 
communications  relative  to  the  spiritual  world  and  the  state  of 
man  after  death :  but  a  candid  examiner  will  find  ample  reason 
to  conclude,  that  there  is,  even  in  these,  much  more  of  reality 
than  of  mere  "  vision."  Dr.  Nares,  also,  adopts  the  popular 
prejudice  in  calling  him  an  "  enthusiast ;"  whence  he  expresses 
surprise  at  finding  in  his  writings  some  striking  and  uncommon 
truths. 

It  seems  but  candid  to  observe,  that  the  learned  author  of  the 
"Plurality  of  Worlds,"  &c,  has  since  done  all  that  he  spoke  of 
when  he  wrote,  "  The  professors  of  Christianity,  who  adopt 
this  theory,  are  in  the  direct  road,  if  they  knew  it,  of  receiving 
all  the  visions  of  Swedenborg :"  only,  I  believe,  it  was  not  the 
former  step  that  led  him  to  the  latter,  but  the  latter  which  led 
him  to  the  former.  Having  commenced  the  study  of  the  writings 
of  Swedenborg  with  a  view  to  their  refutation,  he  was  gradually 
led  to  a  conviction  of  their  truth,  and  embraced,  with  their  other 


484 


LECTURE  XXVII. 


truths,  that  of  the  plurality  of  worlds,  against  which  he  had  so 
zealously  written. 

Note  (G).    Page  465. 

I  here  add  a  few  more  extracts  from  the  amiable  and  learned 
Dr.  Nares,  who  has  evidently  thought  very  profoundly  on  this 
subject,  and  from  authors  whom  he  quotes. 

"  Without  subjecting,"  says  he,  "  the  Supreme  to  a  fate  above 
him,  as  was  the  fashion  of  old,  it  is  known  there  are  some  things 
impossible  even  to  him.  He  cannot  ordain  a  thing  to  be  and 
not  to  be  at  the  same  time.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  he 
could  not,  without  permitting  pain  and  evil  to  a  certain  extent, 
have  conferred  on  sensible  beings  that  measure  of  happiness 
which  arises  from  a  comparison  with  preceding  misery.  Neither, 
therefore,  could  he  so  well  have  rendered  any  beings  sensible  of 
that  measure  of  perfection  which  must  ensue  from  a  comparison 
with  preceding  imperfections.  If  we  suppose,  then,  that  the 
Creator  would  design  the  happiness  and  perfection,  one  time  or 
other,  of  the  creature,  he  could  not  have  brought  them  to  a  state 
of  happiness  and  perfection  otherwise  than  gradually. — What 
then  shall  we  say  of  the  benevolence  of  an  Omnipotent  Being, 
who  creates  an  order  of  animals,  capable  in  a  great  degree,  of 
working  out  their  own  perfection  ;  and  consents  to  relinquish 
somewhat  of  his  own  irresistible  might,  to  render  them  free,  and 
to  exalt  their  natures  ?"  (P.  27 — 30.) — "  If  our  globe  is  but  one 
of  many  myriads,  it  is  a  strange  conceit  to  think  it  is  the  only 
one  inhabited  by  frail  and  peccable  mortals."  (P.  60.)  "  In  the 
nature  of  things,  and  according  to  the  tenor  of  Scripture,  all 
rational  beings  whatsover,  capable  of  good  and  evil,  of  obe- 
dience and  disobedience,  must  be  created  originally  in  a  state  of 
trial  and  probation."  (P.  17,  from  Clarke.)  "It  is  probable,  all 
kinds  of  rational  beings,  as  well  as  we,  have  their  state  of  pro- 
bation ;  that  an  uninterrupted,  everlasting  enjoyment  of  un- 
alloyed happiness,  virtue,  truth,  is  too  great  a  prize  to  be  attained 
without  any  antecedent  state  of  trial."  (lb.  from  Seed.)  "  The 
most  ancient  fathers  of  the  church  seem  to  agree  in  considering 
the  first  state  of  man,  though  capable  of  immortality  without 
death,  yet  so  far  imperfect,  as  it  was  conditional,  and  therefore 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL  DOCTRINES.  485 


only  to  be  advanced  to  perfection  upon  trial ;  and  they  all  ap- 
pear to  describe  the  condition  of  the  creature,  not  as  perfect  at 
first,  but  only  as  capable  of  being  advanced  to  perfection  by  the 
Creator  in  time  to  come.  See  Bishop  Bull  on  '  The  State  of 
Man  before  the  Fall.'  "  (P.  19.)  "  Plato,  unwilling  to  allow 
God  to  be  the  cause  of  evil,  and  yet  not  admitting  a  co-ordinate 
principle  (though  Plutarch  would  attribute  this  to  him),  imputed 
all  evil  to  the  necessity  of  imperfect  beings  ;  that  God  was 
nothing  else  but  good  ;  but  that  the  necessity  of  imperfect  things 
unavoidably  gives  being  and  birth  to  evils  :  and  therefore  he 
thinks  evils  cannot  be  utterly  destroyed,  at  least  in  this  lower 
world.  This  necessity  of  imperfect  beings  he  represents  as  not 
to  be  restrained  or  overcome  even  by  God  ;  that  it  resist  and  re- 
fuses the  bridle  :  Avayxrj  KoXXa  to)  0£u  dvofiaxovva  x  OKfTjviatpvaa. 

Mind,  or  God,  however,  is  in  the  end  to  get  the  better,  according 
to  Plato,  of  this  necessity  ;  and  this  must  needs  be  known  to 
be  the  greatest  art  of  all,  to  be  able  ayu&o*oieiv  %a  xaxa  to  bonify 
evils.  See  '  Wise  against  Atheism,'  vol.  i.  p.  136,  and  Cud- 
worth,  ch.  iv."  (P.  28.) 


